Shipgirls x Battle
by KuuuTsu
Summary: What is the best way to fight against boredom? Exactly! Just fight against other people. This story is all about Javelin, Prinz Eugen, Kaga and many others fighting each other in one-on-one fights, until the last ship standing wins a whole day together with the Commander.
1. Training

"So boring…" The Commander laid back on his chair. "Akagi? Are there any commissions ready yet?"  
Akagi, who was lying with her head on his lap enjoying that moment, looked at the clock. "I'm sorry, Commander-sama. The next commission is done in five hours."  
The Commander moaned. "So much time… I don't know what to do."  
Akagi hopped up with a smutty grin on her face. "We could have-"  
"No! Not again. We already did it today and that was just because I couldn't run away fast enough."  
"Yeah… that was fun."  
"But only for you… someone should teach you the meaning of 'No means no'."  
"Huh? Never heard of that one."  
"No wonder."  
"Anyways, I think it's time to marry me."  
"Nah, that's not worth my gems." The Commander sighed. "Could you tell the other secretaries to come over to my office?"  
"Fine, but I'll come back to that topic. Trust me!"

Short time later Akagi, Z2, Yukikaze, Belfast and Langley gathered in front of the Commander.  
"I really need your help now. You see, at the moment there is no event. And we can't send any fleets anywhere, since we don't have enough oil for unnecessary actions. So, right now it is pretty boring at the base and I'm kinda concerned, that this is having a negative effect for the moral of our ship girls. I was hoping that you five could think of something that could keep them busy, while we can't go on mission."  
Belfast answered right away. "Understood! I'll give you my word, we will find a solution to this problem in no time."  
"Don't worry, Commander. As long as I, Yukikaze the Great, am assisting, we will surprise you with something amazing, you would have never thought of."  
"Great, I'm looking forward to your idea. You may leave now."  
"Just one question, Commander." Z2 interrupted. "Since when is Akagi part of the secretary group?"  
The Commander looked troubled trying to find an answer that would pacify everyone. "Well… you know… She decided to be a secretary herself and I wasn't in the position to reject her demands in that moment." Z2 didn't really get, what he meant with 'not in the position to reject her', but the Commander was already pushing everyone out of his office as he said, "No time for more question. You have to find a solution. Bye!" He let out a big sigh, after he had closed the door behind him. With his back pressed against the door he slowly sank to the ground while saying to himself, "That was close. What a Commander would I be in their eyes if they knew, Akagi would have raped me if I hadn't given her this job as secretary-"  
"We can still hear you, Commander…" Z2 said through the door. "Also, as commander you should always be in the position of rejecting demands..."  
He immediately jumped up. "Forget, what I just said! Go away already!"

Some time had passed as the secretaries discussed some ideas in a conference room.  
"No, Akagi. We won't do a Who-loves-the-Commander-the-most contest." Z2 was about to give up.  
"Come on, Z2. You're such a killjoy."  
"This is hopeless."  
"Now is the moment Yukikaze the Great brings up her even greater master plan. Let's organize a tournament, in which the girls can fight in one-on-one duels against each other."  
"Good idea." Belfast continued Yukikaze's thought. "This is a good distraction from our daily life. And in such a tournament they can train their skills even more."  
"Right, and a little bit of competition between us never hurts." Langley agreed.  
Yukikaze nodded with a self-content smile. "Like I said, an amazing idea."  
"And the winner wins the love of Commander-sama!" Akagi added.  
"Ahh… or maybe a just a whole day with him…" Belfast tried to find a compromise. "Anyways, is everyone fine with that?" No one had an objection against their plan.

…

"Sounds great!" The Commander liked her 'master plan' as well, but Yukikaze wasn't done telling him the whole idea.  
"Oh, and you don't even know the best! The winner gets something that is so cheap, we don't even had to pay for it…"  
"What can that be?! Don't say, Akashi actually gave discount for once in a lifetime."  
"No, it's cheaper. The winner gets a whole day together with you!" The Commander's excitement kept within limits, when he heard about that prize.  
"Ah… right… sounds great, I guess…"  
"Yeah, very smart idea, right?" Langley tried to keep the mood up. "So, we thought of holding this tournament at the sea close to the beach, where everyone else can watch from the land, while the contestants are fighting on the water. We just need some stands for the spectators."  
"This shouldn't be a problem…" The Commander still hadn't totally calmed down due to the winner's prize. There were many strong girls in his fleet with a very weird understatement of love. With Akagi there even was a good example in the room. At this point he was already hoping a 'normal' girl would win, or that something sudden might happen that would stop the tournament, like a siren attack.  
Belfast noticed, that the Commander wasn't completely convinced. "No worries, Commander. We will make sure, everything is going to be alright. All you have to do is, sit down and enjoy."  
And so it was decided to hold a tournament one week later at the beach.

* * *

A few days later in front of the canteen building…  
"Javelin, how is your training going?" Laffey was half-asleep lying on a bench, while Javelin was sitting next to her.  
"Ah… I-I wanted to start yesterday, but…" Javelin looked down. "But I haven't found anyone to train with yet."  
"Mmm… that's not good."  
"I know, you offered me to train with you, but I don't want to fight my friends. And I don't want to cause you any trouble, since I know you're too sleepy for fights, as long as it's not getting serious."  
"Laffey… is hungry."  
"Huh? You're good at changing the topic… Fine, let's go and get some food and drinks. I can't wait for some torpedo tempura, too." The two slowly got up and went towards the canteen. While they were walking, Javelin was talking to Laffey, and while she was doing that, she wasn't paying any attention at all to what she was aiming for. Until suddenly that happened, what had to happen. She crashed headlong into something in front of her. A few moments later Javelin holding her forehead found herself on the ground surrounded by Laffey and Prinz Eugen.  
"Well, if that isn't Javelin of the Royal Navy faction."  
Javelin jumped up. "Oh, hi Eugen. Sorry for bumping into you."  
"Hmm? You didn't run into me…"  
Then Javelin noticed a shaking Leipzig, that was still sitting on the ground. "I'm sorry, Leipzig. It just happens so often, that I bump into people. Ask my sister Jersey," Javelin said jokingly. But Leipzig didn't react. She just sat there on the ground with wide open eyes quietly saying to herself "N-not a-again".  
"Huh?" Javelin was slightly confused about this reaction.  
"I'm… s-sorry. Please don't hate me…" Leipzig said as she was still shaking extremely.  
"Oh, were you trying to mark her or something? Because I already left a big mark on her, so I would say she belongs to me." Prinz Eugen interfered.  
"That is… a weird relationship." Laffey stated.  
"I know it sounds wrong, but I still love my little Leipzig." Eugen gave her a head pat. "She always keeps Roon away from me. That's why she is very important to me. But, I guess, if you want to have her, you will have to defeat me in an one-on-one match."  
"Eh? I didn't-... that's oddly specific. Are you too trying to find someone to train for the upcoming tournament?"  
"Oh, you saw through me…" Prinz Eugen giggled. "Fine, let's meet in the afternoon at the beach." She was smirking as she turned around and grabbed Leipzig by her arm dragging her down the hallway, while leaving Laffey and an astonished Javelin behind.  
"Problem… solved." Laffey quietly summarized. "Let's get some food quickly… Fighting hungry isn't good."  
"Y-you're right…"

The two girls got some food and sat down in the canteen.  
"Uhh… I'm getting nervous. I don't want to embarrass myself in case I am too weak to seriously fight Eugen. Laffey-chan, do you think I could win against her? It is possible that I could come up against her in the tournament. And she might even not be the hardest rival."  
"Eugen is strong and can take a lot of damage…" Laffey took a dramatic break, for Javelin more dramatic than it was intended to be by Laffey, who just wanted to sip on her Oxy-Cola. "But Javelin is so good at evading… You can win if you evade her shots and hit her with your torpedoes. Eugen is slow, so she can be hit easily by them."  
"Wow, I think I've never heard you talking that many words in such a short time."  
"Mmm… If it's for helping my friends. But… talking makes me sleepy."  
"Thank you, Laffey-chan. These are some very good tips. Will you be my coach throughout the tournament?"  
"Mmm… okay."  
"You're the best! I won't disappoint you." The two girls finished their meal and went to the beach with a little stop at the list of contestants. Javelin really wanted to know, who else was participating.  
"Don't forget that everyone could fight anyone of these contestants, no matter their faction, nor their ship classification:

Admiral Graf Spee  
Ajax  
Alabama  
Cleveland  
Enterprise  
Hammann  
Hiei  
Ise  
Javelin  
Jean Bart  
Kaga  
Le Mars  
Prinz Eugen  
San Diego  
Saratoga  
Warspite

The matches of the first round will be announced by the organizers at the start of the event."  
"Mmm… Hiei…" Laffey's chops went down immediately. She actually started to look mad. Even Javelin, who was reading through the list, noticed it. Then she remembered. If there was only one person Laffey really dislikes, it would be Hiei.  
"Ahh-... Laffey-chan, let's go to the beach!" Javelin was desperately looking for an opportunity to distract Laffey from that thought. But Laffey did nothing but staring at this name with angry eyes.  
"Laffey-chan?"  
"Hiei…"  
"Shall I buy you a drink?"  
"Hiei…"  
"Or maybe ice cream?"  
"Ice cream?" Laffey glanced over to Javelin.  
"Ah sorry, I don't actually have the money for this right now."  
"Hiei!" Now she had a slightly disappointed undertone in her voice.

In the end Javelin could persuade Laffey to go to the beach. When they got there, Prinz Eugen and 'her' Leipzig were already waiting.  
"Oh, I almost thought, you wouldn't show up anymore… Guess, you're braver than I thought."  
"Guess, there is still stuff you ave to learn about me."  
"Fine…" Eugen chuckled. "Now, shall we start."  
"But first, let's agree that no one will hurt the other too much, okay?"  
"Hmm? Are you afraid of getting beaten up by me too badly?" But in the same moment she added with a giggle, "Fine. That's probably beneficial to us both."  
Javelin and Prinz Eugen flew over the surface of the water leaving Laffey and Leipzig behind. They stopped in a safe distance to the beach.  
"Are you ready, Javelin?"  
"Totally, let's start."  
_"Remember, what Laffey told me. Evade her shots. Fire back. Hit her with my torpedoes."_ In her thoughts Javelin ran through her strategy. In which direction was she going to evade? When should she use which skill?  
Both had already gotten ready for the fight. Then it started. Prinz Eugen fired her main guns. At the same moment she launched her torpedoes. Javelin saw this huge wall of fire coming towards her. "Not good…" She closed her eyes, as she aimed her main gun at Eugen and started to run. She heard Eugen's shots hitting the water behind her. Time seemed to pass by very slowly. She looked down and jumped back. Where she just stood, Javelin saw water turbulence caused by torpedoes shooting through the water. But due to her sidestep Javelin ran into Eugen's gun fire. A shot hit her right in the shoulder. "Ack-... no, don't lose the focus."  
"Huh? Is that all you have?" Eugen chuckled again.  
The air cleared. Javelin saw that Eugen was nearly unharmed. Nevertheless she was swaying a lot for some reason. But the next barrage was already on its way.

Meanwhile Laffey and Leipzig were watching from the beach.  
"Mmm… they are fighting a lot."  
"Y-yeah… but Eugen won't have a chance."  
"Why?"  
"Well… I'm not sure, how much beer she drank today, but… she is completely drunk."  
"Oh."  
"I-I warned her, but she just didn't want to hear, what I was saying. She just said 'Shut up' and 'I know, what's best for me'."

In the heat of the fight and through all the gunfire smoke and swirled up water drops Javelin was able to escape from Eugen's field of view. "Where are you, Javelin? Show yourse-" Suddenly a torpedo hit Eugen from the side and exploded with a huge water spout.  
"How was that? You didn't see that one coming, huh?" Javelin had a bright smile on her face. Eugen stumbled forward as she tried hard to find her balance.  
"Ah… it's getting interesting." Javelin continued firing her main gun on Eugen, who again had a hard time keeping her balance. She took some critical hits. "This isn't enough! I need to do more! Shields, activate!" Three rotating shields appeared around Eugen. "Let's see, what's your response to that," She said with a grin.  
Javelin gave it her best to hit Eugen with her main gun, but every shot ricocheted off Eugen's shields. "It's hopeless." She slowly got closer to Javelin, who was more and more desperately trying to shoot through her shields. "Hmm? I think, it's time to give up before I forget about our little agreement, okay?" As Eugen got closer and closer, Javelin's facial expression changed from desperate to a bright smirk.  
"Watch this!" She said as her enemy was already too close to get away. Eugen just heard a slight clicking.  
"Well done…" was all she could say before she was in the middle of a huge explosion set off by several torpedoes hitting her.  
Then everything became quiet. The water surface calmed down and Javelin was very happy, that her plan worked pretty well, until she noticed, that her enemy has disappeared. She wasn't able to see her  
"Eugen!" After some moments, that felt like minutes, she finally found her lying in the water. Javelin immediately flew to her to pick her up, but unfortunately she wasn't strong enough lift her. "Laffey! Hurry!"  
The two spectators were still amazed by the big explosion, but when they heard Javelin's calls, Laffey and Leipzig sprinted to the former battle scene, where they found an unconscious Eugen floating in the water. With united forces the three girls were able to drag her back to the beach. It took a few moments until Eugen woke up.  
"I'm so sorry, Eugen. Please forgive me!"  
"Javelin? What was that? An oxygen torpedo?"  
"Ehehe… I'm sorry. Everything happened so fast. I couldn't warn you…"  
"I feel dizzy…"  
"Eugen, I told you, drinking before a match isn't good."  
"Leipzig, shut up." With a saddened look on her face Leipzig didn't say any word anymore and bowed her head.  
"Drinking?! Are you drunk?" Javelin was slightly concerned.  
"Do I look drunk? I just drank some beer. No need to worry at all…" Eugen tried to stand up. After the third try she was more or less able to find her balance, even though she was still very unsteady and swaying.  
"Keep it slowly… and being drunk during a fight in the water is dangerous, you know."  
"Should we take her to a doctor?" Laffey wondered. Javelin and Leipzig agreed with Laffey and dragged the reluctant Prinz Eugen to Vestal, who was able to care for her till the start of the tournament. Javelin decided to be trained enough to fight even stronger enemies, although she knew the circumstances made it easier for her to win over Prinz Eugen.

A few days later...  
"It will be fine…" Laffey told her. As usual Laffey laid down on the bench in front of the canteen, while a trembling Javelin was sitting next to her.  
"I hope so… To be honest I want to show my strength to the Commander. I haven't been on a mission for too long now, so long I can't even remember the last time, I was sent on a mission. I really want the Commander to notice me again, but…" Javelin sighed. "I couldn't encourage myself to actually talk to him about this."  
Laffey needed a few moments to think about this. "If you want to show Commander that you're strong... Punch him..."  
"Ehh?! I-I don't want to hurt him or anything!"  
"But… this sounds like he's an idiot." Laffey gave Javelin a questioning look.  
"W-well maybe. But if he gets mad at me, this won't solve anything. Also… I kinda like him, s-so… I don't want him to get hurt or anything!" Javelin couldn't prevent herself from blushing. "So, that's why I decided to participate in all this. That's why I don't want to lose."  
"Mmmm… I see." Laffey took a sip from her Oxy-Cola, then she continued. "Why do you have an oxygen torpedo if you're not sent to missions anymore?"  
Javelin grinned. "I guess, he kinda forgot about that. That's also a reason, why I haven't talked to him yet. I'm sure, he would take it and give it to someone else like Yukikaze, someone he likes."  
"Mmmm… The Commander is an idiot." Now even Laffey couldn't hide her grin.  
"Laffey-chan, you don't need many words to say the right things." Javelin laughed as she hugged the sleepy Laffey. "It's getting dark soon. We should head home to our dorms."  
"Fine…" Laffey and Javelin parted ways and went to their rooms. Javelin tried to sleep, but she was very nervous.  
"_Tomorrow will be a big day. The fleet is going to watch me, my friends are going to watch me, even the Commander will be there. I'm so extremely jumpy. Kaga, Enterprise, Warspite, these names are so popular. So strong. And Prinz Eugen will be in excellent form too… I guess. Anyways, I don't feel like I could win against any of these if I'm not attentive enough. I need more sleep, more sleep, more sleep… huh?! It's already 2 a.m.?! Sleep, sleep, sleep!"_

* * *

Azur Lane beach, 10 a.m.  
"Uh… in the end I wasn't able to sleep at all…" Javelin could barely keep her eyes open. She had to try very hard to not fall asleep.  
"Don't worry… Fighting wakes me up. You'll be fine." For once in their long friendship Laffey was not the sleepier one of them both.  
Everyone was at the beach, the participants in front of all the other girls, who were sitting on stadium-like stands watching at the sea. In the middle of it the Commander was sitting on a chair, surrounded by five seats for the secretaries. Finally someone started to speak in a microphone.  
"Welcome, fleet! Welcome, Commander!" Z2 started to speak. "We, the secretaries, decided to fight the boring everyday life of this base. For our amusement these 16 attendees will fight, until the last ship is standing. Today will be the first round starting with the following matches:

Hammann : Jean Bart  
Enterprise : Hiei  
Kaga : Le Mars  
San Diego : Saratoga  
Admiral Graf Spee : Ajax  
Cleveland : Prinz Eugen  
Ise : Javelin  
Warspite : Alabama

So that means our first fighters will be Hammann and Jean Bart. But before we start, everyone gets half an hour to warm up. Have fun and good luck!"  
"Ise…"


	2. First Round - Part 1

"Sister, you have to win this for me!"  
"A tournament?"  
"Sister, if you win, we will have a day just with Commander-sama and nobody will interrupt us. Ahaha... Doesn't that sound great?"  
"This rather sounds more like your dream than mine…"  
"Then… if this isn't what you desire, maybe it is the chance to show everyone, how weak they are compared to you."  
"I think they already know that, but maybe it's not wrong to show them my abilities."

_"Now I'm here, thanks to my sister Akagi. Between all these weaklings. Look at them. They are no competition."_ While everyone else was preparing themselves, Kaga stood bored in the middle of this group glancing over to Saratoga, who made an unhappy face.  
"Hey! This is unfair. Why do I have to fight against Sandy?!"  
_"Complaining about stuff they have no influence on. How weak… Not able to accept their fate."_ Then Kaga glanced over to Le Mars. _"So this is her, my first enemy. She's so little, I hope she'll at least entertain me enough until I show her, what strength actually means."_

"Time's up!" Belfast started to speak. "Our first battle will be fought between Hammann and Jean Bart."  
The two contestants went to the points, where they were supposed to start from.  
"Ha! You won't have a chance, Jean Bart. I'll just finish you off real quickly." Hammann was quite self-consistent.  
"Big words for such a little girl," Jean Bart answered smirking.  
"Staaart!" Yukikaze screamed into the microphone.  
Jean Bart immediately shot a barrage at her enemy, before she even knew, what was happening. But it already was too late to evade those shots. Hammann disappeared in a huge explosion. Jean Bart just sighed. "Your endeavors were touching, but… who am I kidding? That was actually easier than I thought." Everyone were astonished, the spectators, the secretaries, the Commander. Everything cleared up and Yukikaze was able to call out the result. "And the winner is… Jean Bart! Congrats!" The Manjuus were already on their way to Hammann to pick her up with the fishing rod.

_"Jean Bart… that is. She looks like a danger. She seems to be the kind of enemy that hits you early and hard, but if you survive the first barrage, she'll be an easy target." Kaga looked at the list of matches. "Enterprise is next. As much as I would like to see her getting defeated, Hiei is not as strong as her. Hiei is probably already thinking about the after show party."_  
Hiei and Enterprise already were in position to start.  
"It's a pleasure to directly meet you on a battleground for once. This time it won't end like back in Guadalcanal."  
Enterprise didn't say a word, but Hiei quietly added speaking to herself "... never again."

* * *

Guadalcanal, November 13, 1942

"Kirishima, report!"  
"Everything is going according to our plan. Everyone has loaded the special bombardment munition."  
"Thanks sister. Let's finish this mission as soon as possible, so we can have a party afterwards." In the deepest night the fleet around flagship Hiei was getting closer to their target, Henderson field. Their aim was it to destroy as much enemy aircraft as possible, so that they could quickly capture this strategic important location.  
"The weather is changing. Looks like a big storm is coming up. This definitely will make things a lot more complicated. Hiei, what shall we do?"  
"Okay… everyone just stay in line. It doesn't look like we're going to run into any major resistance." Then, as predicted, it started to rain. The rain became heavier and heavier, the squall stronger and stronger. The sea was very rough and the visibility pretty bad.  
Hiei became more and more troubled. "I have a bad feeling… a few moments ago everything was fine. And now… it's all getting worse."  
"We lost our formation due to the storm. Our ships are all scattered now throughout the whole sound."  
"Dammit… is everything falling apart now?" Hiei was already slightly frustrated.  
"Hiei, more bad news!" Kirishima shouted.  
"As if our situation couldn't get worse, what is it now, Kirishima?"  
"We've detected a bunch of approaching Eagle Union ships. They're pretty close."  
"What?! How could they come that close without us noticing?!"  
"What shall we do?"  
"Ah… prepare for enemy contact! It was to be expected that there would be some enemies around."  
"Everyone of us has loaded munitions, that are disadvantageous in fighting armored ships."  
"No, changing this would take too much time. We have to withstand this now."

"I see! So this is the Ironbotton Sound." Ikazuchi was amazed.  
"Sister, they don't call this the Ironbotton Sound yet… many of us have to sink first…"  
"E-eh? Wh-what do you two mean?" Akatsuki, accompanying these two, got a fright as she listened to what Ikazuchi and Inazuma were talking about.  
"Ah, this? Don't be afraid. Nothing has happened yet." Inazuma tried to console Akatsuki, but that didn't work as well as she was hoping.  
"I-I am not afraid! No… B-but maybe I should turn a light? It feels a like bit too dark for me." She turned her large searchlights on, what Hiei and many others, including the enemy, saw immediately. "Who is that?! Who turned the lights on over there?! If the enemy is that close, this won't end well for h-" Then she noticed something illuminated in the beam of light. "Is that… an enemy?!" She turned on her lights as well. "Enemy ahead!"  
"Uwaah! An enemy!" Akatsuki started firing at the sparsely visible figure in front of her. Ikazuchi and Inazuma supported her gunfire. But since all the enemy were able to see her as well, Akatsuki got hit several times in the same moment from different directions. "No! I won't endure that for too long. That was a mistake!"

Suddenly Hiei saw an explosion, where once was that light. "Tch, damn you! You won't get away with that!" That pink haired enemy, who's been under attack the whole time, stumbled due to all these shots and ran uncontrollably into the heavy gunfire of one of her mates. Hiei heard someone shouting from the enemy line. "Atlanta! Hold on!"  
In that moment a little, white something flashed through the water, coming extremely close to Hiei.  
"Are you crazy?! You almost darted into me! That would have been the end for both of us. Who are you?"  
"Benson-class destroyer Laffey."  
"She is so fast, I can't target her." Laffey started shooting at Hiei with her machine gun.  
"Huh? You think, that'll stop me." Hiei tried her best to hit her with all she had, but Laffey always was a step ahead. Suddenly a torpedo close to Hiei exploded. She almost lost control, but was able to counterbalance herself just in time. "Torpedoes won't help you!" Her attempts to hit Laffey became more and more aggressive. Then finally Hiei was able to land a critical hit on Laffey.  
"Now you see, what happens when you choose a fight against someone, who is totally out of your league."  
Laffey noticed she was surrounded by Sakura ships. She shot with every gun she had left to cause as much as damage as possible. But a torpedo hit Laffey in the side. Another one of Hiei's salvo decided her fate. She was floating unconsciously in the water.

At another place on this battlefield Ikazuchi and Inazuma were fighting with everything they had, too. "Atlanta is defeated. Who is next, sister?"  
"Portland right ahead!" They started firing at Portland, who suddenly appeared before them.  
"Nooo! I can't let my little sister see me like this!" Taking a huge amount of damage by Ikazuchi's and Inazuma's gunfire and torpedoes Portland was able fire a last, critical salvo at Hiei.  
"Ack-... this is… too dangerous." The pain and fear of taking any more damage was written all over her face. "Everyone, that's left, retreat! This can't go on! Kirishima, sister, order everyone to retreat! I can't…" Hiei was in an extremely bad condition.  
"Sister!"  
"Kirishima, I can't move any further. You have to take over the command. Order to retreat."  
"I'll try! But..." Kirishima looked at her badly hurted sister. "What about you?"  
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Hiei tried to soothe her sister, but Kirishima desperately searched for a way to save her sister, while evacuating everyone else from the battlefield. "Yukikaze! Stay with Hiei. We'll retreating from the battle. Hiei, we'll find a way to bring you home savely!"  
But Hiei didn't seem to listen to the words of her sister anymore. She just answered, "Take care of yourself." She already knew, this would be the last time, she would see her sister in this life.  
"You will be alright soon, Hiei! I, Yukikaze the Great, will stay by your side." Yukikaze didn't sound as confident as usual anymore. The Eagle Union fleet has stopped fighting as well, which made it easier for the Sakura fleet to escape.

Five hours after the battle ended Hiei, accompanied by Yukikaze, was still trying to leave the battlegrounds, but she got slower and slower.  
"My… strength is fading away…"  
"Don't give up, Hiei! I'm sure, we'll find a solution to bring you back."  
"No… it's too dangerous. Submarines are just waiting for an opportunity like this. Just… leave me behind, please."  
"Huh?! B-but-"  
"I don't want anyone else to get hurt." Shocked about this statement Yukikaze looked at Hiei, who was hardly able to stay above the water surface.  
The sun rose lightening up the calm sea, which used to be a chaotic battlefield just a few hours ago. Akatsuki, Laffey, Atlanta and many more. Only a few clouds of smoke were the last remains of a brutal battle. By far not everyone made it out of this fight.  
Suddenly Hiei and Yukikaze heard aircraft engines in the distance.  
"Leave me behind! That's an order."  
"...Fine."  
"And tell Kirishima... I'm sorry."  
Yukikaze turned around one last time hardly able to control her feelings. The last time anyone would be able to see Hiei.

* * *

...That agony, that despair. I don't want to feel it again."

"Staaart!"  
"Yukikaze, I told you already, you don't need to scream. Everyone can hear you just fine." Z2 tried to explain.  
Meanwhile Enterprise and Hiei were facing each other, both waiting for the person opposite to take the first move. Then Hiei targeted Enterprise with her main gun and shot. But Enterprise was able to evade those first shots as her aircraft started taking off. Hiei still wasn't concerned at all.  
"This time my choice of ammunition isn't wrong." These words came unexpected for her enemy. Enterprise lost her focus for a few seconds, but that was enough for Hiei to have several hits on her airstrip severely damaging a lot of Enterprise's attacking air planes. Hiei's confidence grew on and on, but in the same moment she reminded herself. "I have to change my ammo soon if I want to attack her. I shouldn't get too full of myself. Right now this is nothing but defending against her attacks."  
Despite Hiei's effective hit some planes were on their way to her nonetheless. Right in front of Hiei they released a torpedo too close for Hiei to be able to avoid their powerful torpedoes. She was hit by three of them, although the landed hits on her weren't that bad.

Meanwhile the Commander watched the scenery with excitement as Akagi threw her arms round him.  
"Com~man~der~sa~ma, do you know, who is next after this match?" A shiver went down the Commander's spine.  
"Right." Akagi chuckled as she saw he'd figured it out. "My cute sister. You know… I've already planned, what we're going to do as soon as she wins this nice little competition."  
"Wait a minute, 'we'? It's her, who'll get the prize if she wins."  
"Ahaha… I love Commander-sama's jokes. Anyways, of course my cute little Kaga would be so embarrassed having alone time with just you. That's why she asked me to accompany her on that day."  
"'Cute little Kaga'? 'Embarrassed'? Do you even know your sister?"  
"Now, now…" Akagi pressed the Commander tightly against her body.  
"That was an honest question. I mean, Kaga and 'embarrassed' are two things I'd never use in one sentence. And little? Well, she's not a destroyer, you know."  
"My, my. You have to learn a lot more about me and my sister. What a great coincidence, you'll soon have a whole day together with us!"  
"It's still not yet decided!" The Commander forced his way out of Akagi's tight grab.  
"Ahaha! I guess, we'll have to see, who's right," Akagi said with a grin like she already knew she and Kaga would win. "Also, when are going to marry me?"  
"Ugh… that topic again. What again makes you think, that I'm going to spend money on something for you? I mean, I already gave four girls a ring, and three of them are lolis!" The last sentence was louder than the rest, or at least it definitely drew a lot more attention to the Commander than he wanted to have. But Akagi kept cool, at least on the outside. "Commander-sama, stop joking so much. I know, you love me. You're the one, who haven't understood that yet. But I don't want to distract you too much, so I'll leave you be for now."  
"Eh… Commander…" Langley leaned over to him and started to whisper. "I know, what you were trying to say with that 'loli'-part, but I just wanted to inform you, that this makes you look like someone who is into petite girls, you know."  
"Ah, maybe you're right… but it fulfilled its purpose… I think." The Commander concentrated on the current battle again, hoping not too many saw it like Langley.

Hiei was able to avoid more damage caused by aircraft.  
"I haven't done anything yet apart from destroying her planes. If I want to hurt her, I have to shoot armor penetrating munitions. But if I change that, I won't be able to fire at her planes… I can't see another way. I guess, I have to take that risk if I want to win this fight."  
Hiei stopped shooting at Enterprise's aircraft.  
"You're brave, Hiei. But…" For the first time in this battle Enterprise was finally saying something. "... It's over!" Suddenly she started everything, that she had left. Enterprise had figured out, what Hiei was doing, and saw her chance to strike. It already was too late as Hiei was ready to attack. A huge crowd of planes was on its way.  
"Is this it again? How unfortunate can one be…"  
"We got a winner! Congratulations to Enterprise."

* * *

_"Just as I thought, Hiei is simply not strong enough to beat such an experienced enemy. No matter, how much I dislike her, Enterprise is a strong rival and she is worthy fighting me."_  
"Let's hope, the next fight will be as exciting as this one. And now welcome Kaga and Le Mars to the battlegrounds!"  
_"Nah, I'm gonna do this as quickly as possible. Such a little destroyer won't be able to stand in my way."_ As they were standing there face to face, Kaga looked at her with a smirk on her face. But Le Mars did not seem very impressed by that.  
"Uh, so… are you that fox?"  
"Huh? What does she mean by that?! Does she really not know, who I am? Maybe Akagi was more right than I thought at first, that I should show the fleet and my Commander my strength. Or… is she trying to mess with me? Who wouldn't-"  
"Staaaaaaart!" Yukikaze abruptly interrupted Kaga's line of thoughts with her loud voice.  
"Yukikaze! That was your last chance. I'll do that next time." Z2 decided.  
"Here I gooo!" Le Mars immediately started to attack unprepared Kaga.  
"Tch… you have guts attacking me right away. Fine, then I won't show mercy either."  
"Huh?" Le Mars looked like she wasn't really paying any attention to what Kaga was saying. Her answer was launching several torpedoes. Kaga had a hard time evading those.

At the beach another fox was about to freak out.  
"Why hasn't she launched any air strikes yet?! Does she have any problems?!"  
"Are you afraid of being wrong?" The Commander got happier the longer this battle went on.  
"N-no. It's just impossible… it's… she can't lose against such a… little girl!"  
"But maybe she will."  
"Oh sister, please don't do this to me."

As Kaga just had successfully avoided the enemy's gunfire, she didn't notice a torpedo shooting through the water right in her direction and hitting her with a big explosion. Kaga stumbled and almost fell over surprised by this attack, but she was able to get back her balance. "What the hell?!"  
Le Mars didn't react at all to her successful attack nor to Kaga's reaction and already fired the next salvo at her.  
"Now, you are quite something. But only the strong may survive on the battlefield. So it's time for you to leave." With this Kaga sent a countless number of planes on their way. Now even Le Mars was a little bit impressed.  
"Merde… this doesn't look too well for me…" She saw this big crowd of planes coming towards her, knowing this is going to hurt. Kaga's torpedo bombers did their job very well as Le Mars was hit critically several times.  
"And we got a winner! It's Kaga, congratulations!"  
"Of course. That, in fact, is the fate of the weak. Usually death, but this time for the competition I let you alive. Maybe you'll learn from it."  
Le Mars was still conscious enough to hear Kaga's words and to answer. "No, I don't wanna learn…"

Back at the beach Kaga was greeted by a not that happy Akagi. "Sister, what did she do to you?!"  
"I'm alright. She just hit me in a bad moment."  
"Was she trying to manipulate you?!"  
"Huh? Ma-ni-pu… what?" Suddenly Le Mars, who seemed to be perfectly fine, appeared behind Akagi. "I don't understand…"  
"You! Stop trying to get in my sister's head!"  
"I bet getting in someone else's head would be pretty painful."  
"Le Mars? How is it possible, you're feeling so well, while Hammann and Hiei are still resting in Vestal's nursery?"  
"Ehehe… actually this whole fight was sooo exhausting… I was kinda annoyed by it. Sooo I pretended to have lost…"  
"You… what was the point in participating then? I should have crushed you when I had the chance on the battlefield."  
"Eh… I didn't want to participate in this at first. But when I talked to the Commander, he told me I should train more and said this competition would be a great opportunity to show my abilities to him. So he would consider to send me on missions if I did well."  
Kaga looked confused at her. "And you pretended to lose?!"  
"Being on mission is a strain… and Commander doesn't want to give me a massage every time I'd be on mission… sooo-"  
"M-massage?!"  
"He's good at that. That was how he talked me into all this in our little meeting."  
"Y-you were a-alone with Commander-sama?! When did that happen?!" Akagi's words were filled with anger and fear.  
"Calm down, sister."  
"Eh… he wanted to see me last week. So came to his office." Akagi almost got a heart attack.  
"How could I not know about this?! I have to talk to him." She angrily stormed away.  
"Poor Commander…" Le Mars commented.

* * *

A calm voice started to talk through the microphone. "San Diego and Saratoga are our next fighters."  
"Boohoo! That was sooo boring, Z2."  
"Th-that's not a criterion."  
The two fighter were ready to fight.  
"Start!"  
"Sorry, Sandy, if I hurt you."  
"C'mon, Sara. This is just a game! So, let's play!" Sandy smiled. "Besides I will destroy all of her planes anyways, so there is no way I can be hurt."  
"Okay! Let's do our best!" Saratoga immediately readied herself up to fight. "Planes, gooo!" She started an airstrike. With a big smile on her face, since she was now able to do, what she could do best, Sandy already aimed at the incoming planes as Saratoga suddenly did something unexpected. "Heeey! Where are you looking at? I'm right over here!" Saratoga said. Sandy stopped focusing on the planes, looking perplexed at Saratoga, when she started shooting through her artillery guns. Sandy had a hard time protecting herself from the salvos, which consisted of two big projectiles. Meanwhile the planes, she wasn't able to concentrate on, were already very close to her. Due to that distraction she was able to only shoot a few planes down, what led to quite a lot hits Sandy got through bombs and torpedoes. Saratoga initiated the next step of her plan to win this game. "Hehehe… you just got pranked." She started a new airstrike. But this time a lot more planes were on their way to Sandy, who still couldn't find a way to foil Saratoga's tactic. This match became a lot harder for her than expected. Sandy tried again very hard to shoot down as much planes as possible, but there were just too many. But even though she took much damage, Sandy survived this attack contrary to, what Saratoga was hoping for.  
"I don't really get, what's going on right now, but I think, now is my turn! Let's do it! Now it's my time to rise and shine!" Sandy released a powerful barrage of stars.  
"Haha! You were great, Sara, but… I am number one!" She started firing with all of her guns. Saratoga couldn't do anything, her planes still weren't ready to start an airstrike. All she could do was trying to avoid Sandy's shots, but Saratoga couldn't move faster than Sandy's shoot coming towards her.

Meanwhile two more spectators came to the beach.  
"Sister, why did you drag me here?"  
"Indy-chaaan, come on. I just want to bring you under people."  
"Ugh… fine."  
"Awww, you're sooo cute, when you don't contradict me."  
"..." Indianapolis just stared at Portland with an annoyed expression on her face. "What exactly is happening here anyways?"  
"Huh? I'm sure, I told you-"  
"But I wasn't listening…"  
A shock ran through Portland's body. "A-ah… well, this a little fighting competition. Everyone was talking about it in the past days." Since Indianapolis managed to stay in her room for 16 whole days in a rough while constantly ignoring Portland's newest stories from the base, it wasn't that much of a surprise, she had not the slightest clue of, what was happening outside her room. She didn't even went outside to use the bathroom. That was also a reason, why Portland just had to free her from this room.  
"Congratulations to the winner, San Diego!"  
"I guess, we missed some matches. You're okay, Indy-chan?" Portland turned around expecting her sister standing right next to her. But to her surprise she was gone. "Indy? Indyyyyy?!" She frantically looked around to find her with no success. Portland pulled the next person she could grab to her. With wide opened eyes she asked Kisaragi, who couldn't react fast enough to understand, what was going on, "Where is my Indy?!"  
"D-d-d-don't eat meee!" Kisaragi began to scream for help. Portland became more and more furious.  
"Useless brat!" Full of anger she through the little Kisaragi almost 100 feet away. Kisaragi's scream already drew Ark Royal's attention to Portland.  
"Heyyy! How dare you throwing my precious lo- little destroyer?!" Ark Royal was about to start a fight when Portland noticed something standing behind her.  
"I apologize for my sister's behavior. She sometimes doesn't know, what she is doing."  
"Fine. But, Portland, don't come too close to any destroyer anymore, or I swear, I'm gonna kick your ass."  
"Indyyy-chaaan! Where have you been?!" Portland was about to hug Indianapolis, but she stepped aside, before she would have been caged between Portland's arms.  
"Sister, don't. I just went to this stand to get two cups of noodles, in case you want one, too."  
"Don't shock me like this ever again!"  
Indianapolis never had a more disappointed look on her face until this moment. "I… literally was ten steps away from you…"  
"Oh… I'll take one, too"

Sandy and Saratoga were already back at the beach.  
"Don't be sad, Sara-chan. You gave it your best." Before Saratoga got hurt too badly, Sandy gave her the chance to surrender. Saratoga accepted with a little bit reluctance.  
"Four matches have been fought. The four winners are Jean Bart, Enterprise, Kaga and San Diego. We'll have a little break now, before the next match starts."

"Laffey believes in you!"  
"Aww, Laffey-chan! I guess, it's time to get ready soon. There aren't much fights left, until I have to show, what I can do."


	3. First Round - Part 2

"Ajax…" Spee just sighed, while she was looking at her. "Is she planning to trick me again? Everything is to be expected by such a crazy sadist like her."  
"Hmm, you're worrying too much."  
"I guess you're right, Eugen. How can you be so chilled? It's your turn soon too, right after me."  
"I… have my tactics." Eugen was trying to hide it, but Spee knew her too well to not figure out, that Eugen usually drinks a lot to calm herself down.  
"Eugen, are you an alcoholic?"  
"N-no… ehehe, what's wrong with enjoying life a little bit?" She was slightly startled by Spee's question though.  
"But when you fought Javelin, you were drunk as you lost against her, weren't you?"  
"Well, that just means… I am trained fighting in a condition like this." While Prinz Eugen was justifying her actions, Ajax too was occupied by another person.  
"Ajax, please don't get hurt too much." Her sister Leander was more worried than Ajax herself.  
"Ahaha! Spee won't bother me for too long. Your worries about me are pretty unnecessary, you know. Do nt forget, I already defeated her once flawlessly."  
"But I don't think she's the type of girl who falls for the same tricks twice. So be prepared for everything, sister."  
"Like I said, Iknow, what I have to do to beat her. Today I feel like stepping on Spee, after I'm done defeating her. That'll totally be a child's play." Ajax giggled, Leander just smiled back.  
_"Now that I think about it I kinda dislike this attitude of my little sister… sometimes she can be exhausting, when she is like this."_

* * *

"Commander!"  
He already recognized the voice without looking. "What is it now, Akagi?"  
"Why are you meeting other girls apart from me, and why did I not know about this?!"  
"Well, you see… this base is full of girls and I'm their boss. So it's my duty as commander to be informed about everyone. This isn't the first time I'm telling you that..."  
"And that includes massages?!" Now he knew, why she was bring this up now.  
"Ahh… well, there was no other way to make Le Mars do something. She forced me to do this."  
"Huh?! Forced?! No girl should make you do anything!"  
"That's a strange statement coming from you, who is constantly ignoring my privacy."  
"Your privacy is my privacy."  
"No, definitely not." They both kept silent a few seconds, then Akagi continued, where they left off, before they went off topic.  
"Anyways, if Le Mars gets a massage, I want to have one, too! You know, my back is always so tensed."  
"I wonder why…" From then on the Commander kept ignoring Akagi, until she gave up and let him alone again.

* * *

Z2 started to speak. "Our next battle is about to start. Admiral Graf Spee and Ajax are already at the places." Spee was eagerly waiting for the start her eyes fixated on Ajax.  
"Ahaha… look at you." Ajax started laughing "You're not really thinking, you'd actually have a chance to stand me, do you?" Spee looked at her emptily still waiting for the start. "Maybe… I was incorrect. Maybe you didn't understand it at all. Maybe I'll just have to use a word that even you will understand to figure out, how high your winning chances are. Niemals~" (AN: German for "never") Ajax chuckled, but that all seemed to have not the slightest effect on Spee.  
"Let's start!" Finally Z2 started the match.  
"Don't even think anything has changed since Río de la Plata." Ajax started to fire rapidly. "I'm a Giant Hunter after all, my cute piggy." Spee got several little hits, but it wasn't anything that made her troubling. She was even able to fire back at Ajax, who had to stop attacking Spee to avoid her shots.  
"Hoho… so you play unimpressed piggy, I see. Don't worry, I'll make you eat sand in no time." She launched a salvo of torpedoes. "Let's see, what you say to these little friends." Spee didn't move a bit and launched a torpedo barrage herself. Unfortunately for Ajax all of her torpedoes missed their aim. She even had to evade Spee's torpedoes, what didn't really helped Ajax keeping control of herself. She fired back aggressively. "Why. Won't. You. Just. Die?!" Spee reacted with a slight grin, even though she was under fire. Then suddenly the shots that were continuously hitting her became more effective. The grin quickly turned into a more strained expression. "Full Firepower! Hohoho, feels much better. What are you gonna do now, obnoxious piggy?" Spee understood that if she wanted to win, she should think of something to defeat her enemy fast. Until she finally got an idea, a piece-by-piece destruction of Ajax. Once more she aimed at her enemy precisely and shot. A bang interrupted the action as Ajax glanced over to her side. One of her turrets wasn't existing anymore. "Wh-what? How is this possible?!" There wasn't much left of her arrogance. Ajax was just staring at a smoking hole in her gear, where used to be her forth turret.  
"The tables have turned, Ajax."  
"It's not over yet. I'll make you pay for this!"  
"What? Are you going full Roon... I mean berserk, now?" Ajax's remaining guns started shooting furiously again. But since Ajax did not have the firepower that she used to have before anymore, Spee was able to keep up with her easily. Another huge impact, another one of Ajax's guns was taken out. She was hardly able to stand up straight anymore.  
"Even if I destroy all of your guns, you won't give up, will you? I like this attitude of yours." Without showing any feelings, Spee aimed at the next turret, while Ajax tried to fixate Spee. But her staggering back and forth made it very difficult, almost impossible, for Ajax to hit her enemy. With the next impact Ajax not only lost another gun, but there was also a huge explosion lightening up the battlefield. Even Spee was pretty surprised by the dimensions of this fireball. But Ajax was still standing.  
"Huh? Was this… an ammunition depot?"  
_"Ah… these injuries, this pain… is this, how she felt?"  
_Spee aimed for her final shot to end this fight…  
Z2's voice sounded again. "Congratulations to Admiral Graf Spee."  
Back at the beach Spee met Eugen, who was getting ready for her fight. "Well done, Spee. You really didn't go easy on her. Did I smell a little bit of revenge in there?"  
"I know… but I didn't feel such things like the need for revenge. I had to use this way. Her guns were far too strong, so I had to take them out. Otherwise she would have been the one celebrating at the end. It was just logical to fight her with this tactic, even if it's a cruel one."  
"Hmm? This is the Spee I like, cold and calculating." Eugen chuckled. "Well... anyways, I'm gonna head out now." Eugen left her, while Spee was deep in thoughts.  
_"Cold and calculating… was that a compliment? Am I always like this? Eugen wants me to be like that, but the longer I think about this, the more I feel like I don't want to be cold-hearted, not only to the Commander, but to anyone."  
_

* * *

"Sister, why are you following me?"  
"I can't let you go out of my sight, Indy-chan."  
"Seriously? I just need to use the toilet, like I already told you before… Sister, if you dare to follow me into the cabin, I swear, I'll kick you out."  
"Awww… I know, you didn't mean it like that. Also I really need some ideas for my new magazine about my cute sister." Portland waved her head while thanking about another way to lewd her beloved sister.  
"Sister… you're a pain." Portland ignored that line completely. Entering the WC they saw a person, especially Portland would want to meet at last. Ark Royal was standing behind a wall glancing creepily around the corner at the toilet cabins. But when she noticed, she was being watched from behind, she jumped back very fast.  
"Ah! Since when are you here?! I-I didn't do anything!"  
"Ark? You again…"  
"Portland! Are you here to throw around another destroyer?! I won't let you hurt Mutsuki!"  
"Y-yeah… sorry about last time."  
"I hope so! Kisaragi is still shocked. Even I can't touch her yet."  
"Don't worry, I am just accompanying my sister. Just like you are doing that with Mutsuki."  
"Without my permission. Just like Ark," Indianapolis said with a ironic note.  
"But it's for their own good."  
"But it's for your own good." Ark Royal and Portland were speaking almost synchronized. They didn't even need a second to realize something.  
"M-maybe we have more in common than I thought at first…" Ark stated.  
"Right… you love these destroyers, like I love my cute little Indy-cha-" Indianapolis was gone. "Indy?!"  
"She went inside a cabin."  
"Sister, your attentiveness can be awful sometimes." A voice resounded from one of the cabins. And again Portland ignored Indy's criticism.  
"I might have to rethink my opinion about you, Portland. Maybe you're the only one that understands my feelings."  
_"I'm not a lolicon though..." _Portland thought. But she didn't want to make her angry so she just aggreed with Ark's statement.  
"By the way Ark, Mutsuki already left a minute ago, while you were talking to me."  
"Wha-what?! How was that possible?!"  
"She slipped away behind your back." The girl from the Royal Navy was already running outside. She left the room, before Portland was done talking. So the white-haired girl could finally concentrate on another, for her far more important topic. "Indyyyyy? Can I come in?" She was shaking the door a few times. "Come ooon, open the door for me. Pretty please…"  
The answer was a resolute "No".  
"Aww, but I just want to make sure, everything is alright," Portland said in the most lovely tone possible.  
"Have you not understood the meaning of a locked door?" Then she heard the clicking unlocking sound of the door in front of her.  
"Sister, you're in my way." To her disappointment Indianapolis was already done and on the way out.  
"Indy-chan, you really wanna leave it to my imagination, don't you?"  
Her sister commented this just with a slightly disgusted look on her face.

* * *

When they went back to the beach, it just so happened, that the next match was about to start. Cleveland and Prinz Eugen were already standing face to face prepared to start.  
_"My sisters are all supporting me, Monty especially. She is such a good and caring little sister. I'm sure she would rather stand here and fight on my side. I'll give my best for them."  
_Z2 started the fight like always. As soon as they heard the start sign, Eugen had already launched a torpedo salvo.  
"A true knight of the sea doesn't need these kinds of weapons." Main and auxiliary gun fired rapidly at Eugen.  
"Nice little toy guns you got there, but they won't bring you anywhere here." Rotating shields appeared around Eugen, giving Cleveland's shots no chance to hit her. Eugen's torpedoes were coming closer with high speed. At the same moment she fired without hesitation at Cleveland.  
_"This is difficult. I have to think of a way to avoid all this. Think Cleve, think!"_ Cleveland jumped between two torpedoes into a slight ducking position to get out of the trajectory of Eugen's shots, which were flying above her back. Then she fired back. But her shots still weren't able to find the gap between Eugen's shields. And the flood of shells fired by the white-haired girl did not stop at all.  
_"Concentrate! If I want to damage her, I'll have to go full firepower first to destroy these shields."_

Meanwhile at the beach…  
"Come on, big sis!"  
"You can do this, Cleveland!" Montpelier, Columbia, Denver and Birmingham were sitting together and watching the performance of her sister with excitement.  
"Oh, she was hit." When Columbia said that, all the sisters were groaning in pain as if they felt it.  
"She landed a hit!" All the sisters were celebrating her sister like nothing happened before.  
"That's our sister." Birmingham added while wiping away an imaginary tear.

Cleveland was able to fight back, after Prinz Eugen's shields were gone.  
"Still not enough, hmm? I guess, I'll have to do more. All Out Assault." Eugen fired a full barrage. Cleveland couldn't avoid all these shots and caught fire. As next Eugen released the next salvo torpedoes in Cleveland's direction. Due to the several hits she had to endure before, Cleveland wasn't able to bring herself in a safer spot fast enough to prevent being hit by a torpedo.  
"That's no good…"  
"You're more like a team player than a lone fighter, aren't you? Anyways, it's time to end this now." Prinz Eugen sent another barrage in the direction of the severely damaged Cleveland, hitting her numerous times, until she wasn't able to stand up anymore.  
"Congratulations to Prinz Eugen. You have won this fight."  
_"Maybe she's right. I'd rather fight with my sisters or Helena on my side than going into a battle all by myself." _Cleveland was thinking, while she was floating in the water. _"My sisters probably are sad that I lost."_

"Whaaah!" Cleveland's sisters were completely stunned. Columbia even started crying.  
"It's okay, Columbia. Everything's gonna be alright." Denver was trying to console her sister, but she herself was very shocked. Montpelier was angry at herself, because she couldn't protect her. And Birmingham couldn't do anything, but staring into the nothingness of the ocean, disbelieving this whole situation.  
"Eh… aren't they a little bit overreacting?" Helena quietly said to Cleveland, who was suddenly standing right in front of her little sisters.  
"Geez, guys. This isn't the end of the world."  
"Cleveland, you're alright?!" Birmingham finally became responsive again.  
"Of course I am! We're not supposed to destroy each other here, after all."  
"But why are you in such a good mood, even though you just lost?"  
"This defeat isn't bothering me, it's more like I've learnt something though it. I am much stronger when you are standing by my side." That was very effective to stop their disillusion.

* * *

Javelin was getting ready for her fight as she was accompanied by Laffey.  
"Javelin, you know… Ise has a strong gun and planes."  
"Yeah… she's gonna be a hard one. A drunk Eugen is nothing against such a warrior-like person. Long time ago I was sortied with Ise for once. She loves it to fight and probably can't wait to start already. At least that is my mage of her."  
"That's right. Unlike against Eugen you can't just wait for the right moment… Ise's planes are strong. You should end this fight before she launches them… Laffey tired." Laffey sat down on the sandy ground and immediately started sleeping.  
"Guess, I'm on my own then." Javelin glanced over to Ise, who was talking to her little sister. Hyuuga trained Ise all the time, from sunrise till sunset, and sometimes even through the night. "Her sister looks even more like a warrior than Ise herself with her totally serious expression. And the way she talks, she reminds me of a super-strict coach."

Javelin and Ise got ready for the upcoming fight, flew out on the battlefield and finally Z2 gave the sign to start the match.  
"Ha, isn't that great! I am finally able to make some noise again!" Ise looked as happy as always, when she was on a mission. "Let's have some fun and celebrate afterwards." Ise fired a barrage towards Javelin, who could avoid these wave of shots easily. As an answer she launched her torpedoes and as well fired back at Ise with her main gun. Ise didn't lose her carefree look at all. She even seemed to become more excited being confronted with a difficult situation. Javelin's shots were raining down on her without any greater effect. Ise also didn't care that much, when one of Javelin's torpedoes hit her.  
"_Wow, she is still happy. No matter what I am doing to her, she just takes it with enjoyment. Does she really love fighting that much? Or… does she like to feel pain? Anyways, at this rate it will take pretty long to take her down."  
_Ise again fired another barrage at Javelin. This time she landed a big hit, which led to Javelin troubling and stumbling backwards. The crowd was shouting and cheering as they saw one of their fellow beings was getting beaten up. Javelin needed a few seconds and bent over, breathing heavily due to the pain she had.  
"Finish her!" Hyuuga shouted at her sister. But Ise wasn't interested at all in winning the fight at this point. She waited for Javelin to get up and fight back.  
"Don't you want to win?" Javelin asked surprised.  
"But this fight will end so fast if I defeat you right now. But I want to fight more. So, take the time you need." Ise smiled back at her enemy, who couldn't tell if that's supposed to be a joke or if she was being serious. Even the watching crowd was perplexed and became more and more quiet as they were waiting for anyone to do something. Then after a few seconds Javelin slowly got up.  
"Okay… I think I'm ready to continue."  
"Come on. Fight me already." Javelin was still confused, but then got ready to attack Ise, who was impatiently waiting for any reaction.  
"Fine, if you want it like that, then… Full power advance!" She launched a few high-speed torpedoes. Before Ise was able to move a bit, the torpedoes hit her with a huge explosion.  
"Now this is, what I was looking for!" Ise was still having a totally unconcerned expression, while Javelin was running in circles around her constantly firing with her gun. Ise tried her best to target Javelin, but she was too fast. None of her shot were able to hit Javelin.  
"My guns seem to be no use. Guess, I'll have to launch an airstrike then." Javelin heard the aircraft engines startling.  
_"No good. Laffey warned me about her planes. There must be a way to avoid the bombs… Ah! That's it!" _Javelin stopped circling around Ise. Instead she was directly running towards her. _"Right, right. She definitely won't let her planes bomb me if there is the possibility that she could be hit by a bomb as well. She isn't one of those who would take that risk, right?"_ Luckily Javelin assessed Ise's character correctly and the planes turned away as Javelin got closer to her. Now that the planes weren't a problem anymore, the purple-haired girl saw herself confronted with a totally different problem, one a ship girl wouldn't think about at first. But Ise saw this opportunity and took a big swing with her sword. Javelin with a great presence of mind reacted fast and was able to fend the blow off with her spear. Like vultures Ise's planes were circling around the scenery.  
_"Too close isn't an option. Either I have to fight her directly or I have to deal with her bombers."_ Javelin got out of reach for Ise's sword. But then one of her planes left the circle to throw its bomb at Javelin almost hitting her.  
"Looks like if you don't want to be my bombers' next victim, you'll have to fight me in a close combat." Ise suggested, but Javelin saw another way. She came closer again, but started firing with her main gun. Ise could defend herself by stopping the shots with the blade. Javelin was moving towards her fast, until she finally released her torpedoes, before Ise was ready to swing her sword.  
"We're ships after all, not swordswomen." With shocked eyes Ise couldn't do anything but watching multiple torpedoes hitting her critically.  
"And the winner is Javelin!" Z2 loudly announced.  
"I did it! I won a fight! I wonder, what'll Commander say to that."  
"Woah, not bad. You caught me out, when I wasn't expecting it."

Laffey and Hyuuga were already awaiting the two fighters.  
"Stupid sister! Why didn't you do anything, when you had the chance?"  
"Sorry, I just wanted to fight longer."  
"Siiister…" Hyuuga became a little bit angry.  
"You did well, Javelin."  
"All thanks to you, Laffey. I always had you and your tips in mind." Javelin hugged Laffey. Ise did the same with Hyuuga, but Hyuuga's look didn't change through that.

"Tell Laffey… how was it?"  
"It wasn't easy, but somehow I had fun. I'll tell you more about it later, first I wanna talk to Commander a little bit." Javelin went straight to the Commander, who wouldn't have ever imagined, that Javelin was able to defeat an aviation battleship.  
"Commander! Wasn't I great?"  
"Well yeah, but I'm still surprised. How were you actually able to beat someone like Ise."  
"Huh? Aww, Commander, you really need to improve, how to praise me… Anyways, are you now considering sending me on some missions?"  
"Err, missions… not yet. It takes more than one win for me to become convinced of someone."  
"Commander, how can't you be convinced already?!" Javelin was too offended to talk to him anymore and left leaving a still perplexed Commander behind.  
_"Commander, you idiot… I did my best and all he says is that he is still expecting more of me. Did he even compliment me? He's the worst."_ Looking depressed Javelin went back to Laffey, who was sensing something wasn't right.  
"Laffey and Javelin will celebrate this victory later with friends."  
"Okay…" That helped at least a little to raise the mood.

* * *

Meanwhile Z2 already had announced the last match of the day and the two girls, Warspite and Alabama, were standing in position to start.  
"Start!" The two heavily armed girls started shooting each other with their auxiliary guns. Moving fast would have been a tremendous act of strength, so at first both of them weren't even trying to evade each other's shells.  
"Belli dura despicio!" Warspite shot a barrage at her enemy. Alabama was severely damaged pretty fast. But it didn't took long until the next barrage coming from Warspite was on its way. Another critical hit.  
The Commander was watching with a lot of interest. "Woah, with her new skills it feels like Warspite is very overpowered. Actually that's a good thing. She isn't that insane, so there is the potential I might not be in danger on a day with her. At least as long as 'Her Majesty' won't show up…"  
_"Dammit… there is no chance winning against her. My guns are still not ready and damaged as well. At this rate I won't be able to hit Warspite a single time with my main."_ Alabama looked at her enemy and saw, how Warspite was prepared to fire with her main gun, how the big shells were flying towards her and how she was hit by them. _"That's it then."_

"We got a winner. Warspite won the last battle of the day. Congratulations!"  
"That was fast…" Javelin was still with Laffey, Ise and Hyuuga standing, where they were before this fight had started.  
"I'd loved to fight her…"  
"Ise, you definitely would have lost the way you behaved in this last fight."  
"So, this is it for today. The next round of this will be in five days. So winners, prepare yourselves for the upcoming fights. Losers, thanks for participating. We hope, you'll get well soon." Z2 tried to be as empathetic as possible.

* * *

A few hours later Hammann finally woke up. "I'll beat the crap out of you!"  
"Ahh! I beg you, please don't!"  
"Huh? Vestal? Why are you-... why am I here?" Hammann noticed she was lying in a hospital bed.  
"I guess, you can't remember."  
"Remember what?"  
Suddenly a voice from the other corner of the room started speaking. "You lost even before you could make a move."  
"Jean Bart?! You're here, too?"  
"Yes… not like I wanted to, but Belfast wanted me to look over you. 'Cuz this helps us get to know each other better' and stuff." Jean Bart didn't seem very convinced of this concept. "I think she forced everyone to do that. I guess, it's also to reduce Vestal's work, which is the only reason, why I'm here."  
"Thanks, Jean Bart, for helping me." Vestal appreciated a lot, that Jean Bart showed consideration for her.  
"Just telling you, Jean, that was pure luck. Next time I'll destroy you."  
"Ha, want another punch?"  
Vestal intervened. "No fighting in the holy halls of my hospital!"  
"Idiots just won't learn, will they…" Jean Bart quietly said, then she continued talking to Hammann. "Anyways, I was told to look after you. So if there's anything you need, ugh… just tell me… or whatever."  
"I still have my doubts if I should leave you alone, but I have a few other patients to take care of. So, bye for now." Luckily Vestal could trust Jean Bart. On that day she didn't have to look a single time after Hammann.

* * *

"Congratulations, Javelin!" A crowd of Javelin's closest friends surrounded her as she, led by Laffey, entered a little location decorated with a few balloons. Ayanami, Nimi and Unicorn were already waiting for her.  
"Aww, this wasn't necessary. Thank you, I love you all so much!"  
"No need to thank us, you deserved it." Nimi said to her. "If that brick of a commander doesn't praise you for your work, it's clear that we'll have to do something. And so we did."  
"W-we couldn't do much, but-"  
"That's more than I've ever expected, Unicorn-chan!" Javelin hugged Unicorn, when another guest appeared at the party.  
"Hmm, so this is the party?" Prinz Eugen was standing in the door to the party room dragging Leipzig with her.  
"Eugen, what are you doing here?! Didn't Bismarck told you to rest?"  
"Don't be a killjoy like her, Nimi… I heard the word party, so where is the beer?"  
"Beer? I don't think, we're allowed to drink alcoholic stuff." Ayanami's answer was the last thing Eugen wanted to hear.  
"Come on, everyone of you is at least 70 years old. You'd be surprised if you knew, what you're allowed to do." She said with a smug grin, even though nobody of the present people understood what she was trying to tell. "You girls are just too pure, I guess. Am I right, Leipzig?" Leipzig just smiled back as Eugen gave her a head pat.  
"Does she like to be treated like a dog or something?" Javelin whispered to Ayanami.  
"Eh… strange behavior… Atago wouldn't act like this."  
"Anyways, not bad, what you did on the battlefield, Javelin. If you keep on showing such good performances, I'll have to consider you for a genuine rival. That's what I wanted to tell you... Well, I'll go now to find a place to drink, since you don't have any interesting drinks here. See ya- Leipzig, bei Fuß!" (German for "heel!") The two left again.  
"Weird…" Even Laffey saw Leipzig's strange behavior.  
The rest of the evening Javelin and her friends spent celebrating the victory.  
"_A victory, huh? That could be the start of something great. I showed my strength today and I'm sure, even though he didn't praised me, the Commander noticed that I'm more than just a destroyer. I want him to consider me as a strong member of the fleet. I want him to send me on missions. I want him to like… No, I not only want to win this whole event, I have to. What Eugen said, what my friends did, gave me strength for the upcoming fights, I'm sure of it. Whoever I will face, I'll have to defeat them."_


	4. Sortie!

"Commander-sama, you look so deep in thoughts… I-is something wrong?" Akagi was standing right in front of her beloved one in his office, worrying about his condition.  
"E-eh?" He didn't notice that there was someone else in his room. Though it wasn't shocking him anymore. He got used to Akagi, stalking him all the time. "It's nothing…"  
"You want to touch my tails?" Before the Commander could answer, Akagi sat down on his desk. Her fluffy tails instantly caught his eyes.  
"Th-that's not, what I…" He tried to fight the will to touch them. But focusing on the documents, that were hardly visible under Akagi's huge, dense tails was impossible. "Nevermind. No one can resist the mofumofu." He dived into Akagi's fluffiest parts. "So fluffy."  
"So now, will Commander-sama tell me, what is on his mind, I wonder." The Commander, mentally being miles away, wasn't able to respond. So Akagi stood up and took her best parts, her fluffy tails of course, away from him.  
"Will you tell me now?"  
"So much fluffiness…" The Commander needed a few seconds to get his thoughts together. "I was just thinking of the next sortie. The girls from the fighting event did a great job."  
"Oh, so you're thinking of my lovely sister?"  
"Not just her, but Javelin too. She seemed to be so strong that day. She took out a battleship. Now that I thought about it, I might give her a chance. It's a miracle, I haven't seen her potential yet."  
"Commander-sama, wouldn't it be the best if you didn't think too much about her?" The Commander just ignored Akagi's 'worry'.  
"I really want to see, how she acts on a real mission."  
"Forget about her, Commander-sama!" Akagi slowly became impatient. "Anyways, I think it's the right time to marry me."  
"Akagi, what exactly defines this to be 'the right time'?"  
"Well… isn't always the right time?"  
"Sooo, it's the same rule like when you decide to rape me again?"  
"Aww, Commander-sama. Don't call it like that when we are loving each other."  
"I'd rather call it a crime, but that doesn't count in this world, right…" Akagi just laughed it off.  
"I think it's about time to do it again…" She put on her most seductive expression.  
"What? No, I can't. I'm in the middle of my work. N-no, Akagi stooop!"

A few hours later Javelin and Laffey left the canteen.  
"Isn't the weather great, Laffey-chan?"  
"Sunny… not too warm... Good weather for sleeping."  
"Don't think about sleeping so much. This only makes one sleepy." The two were heading through the harbor, which was full of girls who were enjoying the great weather. Suddenly Javelin noticed someone coming closer to her.  
"C-commander?! What are you doing here?"  
"Hey, Javelin."  
"I-is something wrong?" Javelin saw that he wanted to say something.  
"Oh, it's something important. We gathered enough oil to start a new sortie and I just wanted to inform you that you'll be part of the next sortie."  
"Whaaat?!" Javelin immediately got super-excited. "When? Where? When?"  
"Today. You can follow with me. We'll meet at my office as soon as possible."  
Without losing time the Commander, Javelin and Laffey went to the office, where a few other girls were already waiting. The secretary ship Z2 as well as Kisaragi, Unicorn and also Prinz Eugen.  
"Everyone's here. So we can start now." Commander closed the door, Laffey waited outside.  
"Commander, you kept us waiting. Thiele was already about to begin without you." Eugen commented.  
"Sorry, had to pick up another girl for the sortie."  
"Ah, Javelin. Well, then we can only win. Right, Javelin?" Javelin answered Eugen with a nervous laughter.  
"So!" The Commander started to speak. "Now that everyone gathered here, let's begin with the preparations. You will have to fight at stage 8-4. Z2, tell them about their enemies."  
"Very well. You're going to see Abukuma, Ikazuchi, Inazuma and Nachi as enemies, everyone with a level of 85-"  
"Boooring!" Eugen interrupted. "Can't you give us something harder?"  
"S-s-something… h-harder?" Kisaragi flinched back, so the Commander had to console her.  
"This stage is a good compromise looking at your strength. Please continue, Z2."  
Z2 explained the location of the battlegrounds, the specialties and how they were supposed to move, but Javelin looked across the room.  
_"I'm part of a real sortie, huh? Still can't really believe it. Though, when I see my companions, I'm not sure if we are able to do this. Unicorn doesn't seem to be all that excited, leaving alone Kisaragi. Gladly we at least have Eugen."  
_"You're thinking the same, right?" Prinz Eugen, who was sitting next to Javelin, whispered into her ear. "Looks like we have to carry the fleet." She chuckled.

While the fleet was instructed, Laffey was still waiting outside almost falling asleep, until suddenly an enraged Akagi awoke her from her dreams.  
"You! What are you doing in front of the office?"  
"Waiting… for Commander's return."  
"Return? Where did he go off to?"  
"Not sure if I should tell you that…"  
"Who do you think you are, little brat. Of course the Commander would want me to know his location at any time. I'm a secretary ship after all! So, tell me immediately!"  
"Fine… Commander went to Akashi's shop."  
"A-Akashi?! She sells rings. D-does that mean… Commander-sama finally wants to marry me?" Akagi was breathing heavy in excitement. Laffey needed a few seconds to think through, what she going to say.  
"Uh… yes. That is, what he wanted to do..." Akagi wasn't able to control herself anymore and ran off towards Akashi's store.

Meanwhile Z2 finished her monologue regarding this mission.  
The Commander continued. "To your safety I ordered some of my best ships to come with us, in case something's going wrong. You'll meet them later. I will accompany you as well to watch your perfomance."  
_"Of course, he isn't totally trusting in our abilities. Though, knowing he will watch over me, is making me a little nervous."_ The meeting went on for a while. Everyone was instructed, in which direction they were supposed to move at the battlegrounds. There should always be contact between them and the Commander. After the meeting they met the other fleet at the harbour.  
_"This really is a strong fleet. There is Acasta, the strongest ship at this base and Commander's wife as well. A Royal destroyer just like me, but he is giving her every good equipment a destroyer needs. Belfast and Sandy are with her. Bismarck, Saratoga and Warspite as main fleet. Bismarck is the flagship. Yep, if anything happens, they'll crush everything that crosses their way. I feel safe, knowing they are close, yet on the other hand it would be a crushing defeat if they had to come and save us."  
_"Remember, you'll take the southern route to the ammunition replenishing zone. Bismarck will follow slowly until we detect the boss." With these last instructions the two fleets went off to their mission.

* * *

While they were waiting on deck of Sandy's ship to arrive at the battlegrounds, something was still bothering Javelin concerning Eugen, who was standing isolated from all the other girls looking at the horizon. "Why did the Commander decide to put you in this fleet?"  
"Hmm? That's a weird question. Isn't it the Commander, who should answer such questions?"  
"Maybe… I was just wondering. Everyone else in our fleet, including me, is so inexperienced. You seem to be the only one, that is used to these sorties."  
Eugen started to laugh. "Sometimes things aren't like they seem to be."  
"Huh?"  
"Ever since that crazy berserk joined our base, the Commander rather used her instead of me. She replaced me. What other reason would there be to carry Leipzig with me anywhere I go? I just don't want to see her ever again."  
Javelin glanced at Eugen in surprise."I'd have never thought, that you're feeling the same way as me."  
"Well, that doesn't matter now. I carried on living without having to fight every day and concentrated on... other things."

"Aww, isn't it beautiful to see an Iron Blood girl next to a Royal Navy girl. Who'd ever thought that would be possible one time?" Belfast said to the others. Eugen and Javelin were standing too far away to hear their conversation.  
"Well, I'm not surprised. I see Eugen at our local pub more frequently than anyone else from our faction." Warspite stated.  
"But you have to agree, Eugen and Javelin are together pretty often in the last days. There was this one training fight they had. And remember, Javelin told us, that Eugen visited the party that was done for her as well…"  
"I guess, they're a couple now…" Both, Warspite and Belfast, glanced over to Acasta. "Wh-what are you looking? Did I said something wrong?"  
"W-well… or they just became friends." Belfast suggested.  
"Probably. But in the world of fanfictions it's most likely that it's love." Acasta was pretty convinced of her thesis. "And I have evidence. I saw them eating together in the canteen yesterday, Javelin, Eugen, Laffey and Leipzig. They weren't just eating, but also laughing by times. I guess, they're enjoying the time they're spending together."  
"I'm not sure if that proves your point. I'd bet they're not a couple."  
"I'd bet they are." Acasta said resolutely.  
"Very well. The loser prepares a dinner for the winner." Belfast proposed.  
"Big stake, but it's accepted."  
"How are we going to find out, who is correct though?" Acasta wondered. "Asking directly would be too much, wouldn't it?" Belfast and Warspite just looked at Acasta with disillusion.  
Belfast answered kindly, "Right. That would be too much."

"Uwaah, it's getting colder." Javelin noticed. After a long time of traveling they finally arrived at the location of 8-4. Everyone, Eugen as well as Javelin, gathered near the Commander, who was about to give them further instructions.  
"You four, you see the path between those two ice fields? This is your route. We've detected an enemy fleet right behind it. They're gonna be your first enemies, so prepare for a fight."  
"Fine." Eugen was ready to hunt down anything that comes across. The other three readied themselves up as well.  
"Stay safe. We'll follow slowly."  
"Don't worry, you can count on us, Commander!" Javelin said and jumped down the deck onto the water surface, where Eugen was already waiting. Unicorn followed, while Kisaragi needed some persuasion before she left the deck as well. Staying in formation the girls were approaching their destination, when suddenly some enemy planes appeared above them.  
"Huh? Where did they come from?" Javelin was wondering.  
"Let's be honest. None of us is that good in fighting aircraft…"  
"Uwaa… th-this is bad…" Kisaragi was shaking with her full body.  
"N-nothing to worry. Unicorn will keep fighting until you're safe." The light carrier started her planes. Even though they were clearly stronger than the enemy, some of the attacking planes were able to start dive-bombing maneuvers.  
"Javelin! Watch out!" Eugen noticed one of them was about to release its bomb. Eugen targeted the plane with her anti-air and in the blink of a moment the plane fell uncontrollably from the sky with a wing cut off.  
"Ahh nooo! Planes, leave me alone!" Kisaragi didn't fight back. She did nothing but ducking and covering herself.  
"Girl! Move your hull!" Eugen called out to Kisaragi, who wasn't able to react. "Move or you'll get hit!" Kisaragi was still not moving at bit. In that moment a shell dashed into the water next to her. Absolutely frightened Kisaragi jumped behind Eugen, who had been approaching her to protect the destroyer behind her rotating shields.  
"We're getting some company." Javelin pointed at a fleet of enemy ships. A pink-haired and a blue-haired girl were casually sitting on the front ship at the edge of the deck ready to start fighting. The danger of attacking dive bombers was almost under control. But in the same time more shells started to rain down making it harder to evade. Eugen and Javelin decided to split up to attack the enemy. Kisaragi stayed behind Eugen. The two girls jumped down on the water and split up too.  
"You're quite troublesome… if you couldn't tell already, girl." Prinz Eugen tried hard to eliminate any danger on her side, while Javelin took out the enemies on the other side of the battlefield.  
"Uwaa… I wanna go home…" Kisaragi was ducking, nothing but hoping that she won't get hurt. But shells kept dashing into the water close to those two.  
"I can't do anything for you anymore. So be a ship for once and fight back!" Prinz Eugen got more and more annoyed by Kisaragi's stubborn refusal. Inazuma, who confronted them, did not make it easy. With fast movements while constantly sending torpedoes in their direction, Eugen couldn't push her back.

The Commander was watching the scenery from far away.  
"Looks like they're having a rough fight."  
"We can interfere at any time, Commander. Just give us the order." Bismarck was standing next to him, seeing just as well, what was going on.  
"Not necessary… for now. But stay on alert… Ah well, I know, I don't have to tell you to be ready to fight."  
"I'm sure those Royals and Eagles are prepared well, too. Maybe not as professional as a typical Iron Blood member would be, but they'll do their job good, too."

Meanwhile at the battlefield…  
"I need a drink after this…" Eugen was still fighting Inazuma. "More firepower! I need more!" She started to fire a full barrage putting Inazuma out of action. A final shot destroyed her finally. Javelin still had to clear her side. So Eugen decided to support her, Kisaragi in her back. Suddenly she heard a huge explosion right behind her. As she turned around she saw Kisaragi lying unconsciously in the water. The last remaining dive bomber was flying away from the area. "Damn you!" Eugen targeted the plane and started shooting. The bomber broke into hundreds of pieces instantly.  
"I told you to move!" Eugen hurried to Kisaragi and picked her up.  
"Is she okay?!" As soon as Javelin finished off her side of enemies, she came over to them.  
"Does that look okay to you?"  
"S-sorry, Unicorn couldn't save you all…" Unicorn had a very sad look on her face, so even Eugen, standing next to her, wanted to do something against it. She stroked through her hair.  
"It's not your fault. She didn't want to move. Hopefully she learnt from it." A sudden cold breeze threw them back into battle mode.  
"New enemies!" Javelin noticed a new fleet that spawned right in front of them, already starting to attack the remaining three ships.  
"If the Commander wanted to save us, now would be a great moment." Eugen said only half-joking as lots of new ships were surrounding them already. She picked up Kisaragi. "Javelin, Unicorn, I hope you'll be fine doing most of the job now. I'm gonna do what has to be done with such lolis like Kisaragi in the middle of a fight… I'm gonna protect her."  
"Fine…" The two were worried if they really were able to defeat a whole fleet on their own.  
"I'll command you, so you can concentrate on fighting alone." Though both agreed to Eugen's suggestion, they readied themselves up to fight still with an uncertain look on the face.  
"All ships, Feuer!" With Eugen's words Javelin started firing the enemy, while Unicorn's aircraft was ready to start. Suddenly right in front of them Abukuma spawned and immediately released many torpedoes. Javelin avoided as much of them as possible, but couldn't prevent getting hit by one. Eugen just played her role as tank very well. Even though several torpedoes hit her, it was no problem for her to keep Kisaragi on her shoulder.  
"Hmm? You think that'll stop me? Guess, I have to do a little bit more then." Eugen shot a full barrage of shells at Abukuma.  
"Nice assist. I'll finish her off." With a smile Javelin fired her torpedoes in Abukuma's direction, which indeed destroyed, what was left of her.  
"Your Majesty, or whatever you call her, would be proud for sure."  
"She doesn't show things like pride. Though on the very inside, I'm pretty sure of it, she is proud of us all."  
The enemy still wasn't completely defeated, even though Unicorn destroyed many mass produced ships in the meantime with her airstrike.  
"Over there! Nachi!" Javelin pointed at the next incoming fleet. Nachi, their next enemy, was approaching them fast. Immediately after noticing her, Javelin aimed with her Main Gun and shot at Nachi. But unfortunately the Cruiser saw it coming and evaded her shots surprisingly easily. Instead Javelin ran into a counter attack. The impact of Nachi's attack was heavy and hit her critically, so Javelin collapsed and fell into the water. Everything around her went black.

"... up… wake up. Wake up, Javelin."  
"Huh?" Javelin slowly opened her eyes and looked up. The first thing that bounced in her sight were breasts. "Bel… fast?" She could feel that she was right now lying with her head on Belfast's lap.  
"Oh, excellent! I'm glad you finally awoke." Belfast looked with a bright smile upon her hills into Javelin's face.  
"Wh-... where…" Javelin looked around, while still resting her head on Belfast's lap.  
"You're in safety. Don't worry."  
"B-but how did I managed to get out off there? Is everyone else in safety?"  
"Right, everyone is safe. Kisaragi is still in deep sleep though. Right after you were knocked out, Bismarck persuaded the Commander to let us intervene."  
"Soo… are we heading home?"  
"Yes. The mission is finished. We cleared the map on the fastest way possible."  
"Oh…" Javelin covered her face with her hands realizing, what happened out there. "... still not good enough… I once again confirmed Commander's image of me, confirmed the image that I'm weak. He should rather not give any more attention to me."  
"Now, now. Don't blame yourself. It definitely wasn't your fault."  
"Y-you're only saying that, because you have to…"  
"True. Making someone feel better truly is a skill well-trained maids should own. But as a person, who knows the circumstances of this defeat, I cannot blame you for it. Furthermore, the Commander saw you being knocked out by the enemy as well as he indeed saw you fighting bravely a majority of enemies. And that is a good thing, wouldn't you agree? I'm sure he will carefully reflect all your actions out there."  
"Looking from that perspective… you might got a point."

* * *

Javelin slowly recovered on the way back home. Entering the harbor she was able to stand on her own. But still, after such a defeat it is a normal consequence to visit the nurse first. While Kisaragi and Javelin had to stay, everyone else was free to leave. Since the day was almost over, most of them went on the fastest way to their apartments. However, Eugen still had to go for a little date in a little pub in the Royal part of the base. As soon as she opened the door, she was greeted by Prince of Wales, who was sitting at the bar.  
"Eugen! Glad, you had the time to come over."  
"If it's you who asks, I'll take the time." Prinz Eugen sat down next to Prince of Wales and Black Prince, who was serving as bartender. A beer, Eugen's usual order, was already provided for her.  
"Same procedure as every time, Eugen."  
"You know, what makes me happy… even though it's not Iron Blood beer. So what is it that you wanted to meet me that badly?"  
"How about meeting a good old friend…" She saw Eugen wasn't buying that, so Wales continued. "And, of course, you know… it's a tradition here, if there is a competition, we'll have to bet on everything that we can bet on."  
"Hah? So it is that?"  
"I just wanted to ask you if you would recommend me anyone, who is definitely going to win next round. The majority is thinking Warspite will win. What is your opinion?"  
"Don't you Royals overestimate her a little too much? She might have become stronger since she got her retrofit. But wasn't it you, who said, sometimes victories came down to nothing but luck?"  
"Precisely. But-"  
"Th-then who is your favourite?" Black Prince nervously crashed into the conversation.  
"Hmm… if I had to place my money on someone, it would be one of your fellows, but not Warspite."  
"Eh? Javelin? She won't stand a chance, when facing someone like Warspite." Black Prince didn't want to believe that, while Wales was deep in thoughts.  
"Who knows… in the end that is, what makes betting that exciting, isn't it so, royal friends? Well, of course, I'll beat her if she has to fight me." Eugen laughed. "Now, are you satisfied by that? Will you drink a beer with me now, Wales?"  
"E-eh, well... I'm fine with my tea for now…"  
"Come on, tea time is over. And it's rude to refuse an invitation like this."  
"Huh… fine. Black Prince, bring me your best beer." Eugen couldn't hold back her laughter.  
"If you really wanna taste the best of the best, you should visit our bierkeller." For that she earned nothing but despicable looks from the other two princes.

One beer turned into two and two turned into ten. Prince of Wales, Prinz Eugen and Black Prince, who was already catching up on them, drank until they were the only ones left in the pub. It already was deepest night, but that didn't stop them at all.  
"Walsy, why weren't you betting that I'll win this whole thingy?" Eugen was pouting. Wales couldn't figure out if she was joking or not, which wasn't just Eugen's fault. By then Wales already drank far more than she can usually handle.  
"S-... so-" She tried her best to speak normally, but that was impossible. "S-sorry, I din't th- *hic* think 'bout that." Wales then looked deep into Eugen's eyes. "Y-... you *hic* are my fav-... favro-... farovi-..."  
"It's okay, Walsy… I forgive you."  
Wales stood up, grabbed Eugen from her chair and hugged her while saying "Thank you" with a light voice.  
"Aww, would it be weird if you were kissing right now?" Black Prince looking at them with big eyes said this like she was hoping that this would happen next.  
"Nah, I haven't had enough beer yet to get full yuri…" As she heard that, Black Prince started rummaging through the shelves looking for any harder stuff.  
"Right, thi-... *hic* this'd be a mistake." Wales giggled.  
"Anyways, I think it's time for me to leave." After she was released by Wales, Eugen slowly staggered towards the exit, but turned around before she left. "It was an honor, my dearest princes." Then she left after three unsuccessful tries to go through the door.  
"I was hoping for more…" With a little bit of disappointment Black Prince opened a bottle of Whiskey, she found while searching for anything that could break Eugen. "You want some too?" She looked over to Wales, who was lying with her head on the bar already sleeping. "Fine… more left for me… Wales, you and Eugen would be a great couple."  
"Hehe…" Wales tried to laugh, while she was dozing off.


	5. Quater Finals - Part 1

"Good morning, Jean. Did you get enough rest?"  
Awoken by Dunkerque's voice Jean Bart opened her eyes. "I'm fine..." She yawned.  
"I made some macarons. If you want some, you should hurry. Le Mars is staring at them like a predator is staring at its prey. I even had to call Gascogne to watch over her, so she won't start without us."  
_"Dunkerque's macarons are the best! It's no surprise that we call her chef de cuisine."_ Jean Bart was still a little sleepy, but thinking about the taste of Dunkerque's sweets cleared her mind pretty fast.  
"Is that, why you woke me up?"  
"Yes, but not just that… I-I was just a little worried about your well-being. When you came back home yesterday, you looked so exhausted. You went straight up to your bed without saying anything. You even ignored me, when I talked to you. Well not like that would be something special, b-but still... I just wanted to look if you're alright."  
"No need to worry. I was training the whole day."  
"Wasn't that a little too much? You really don't seem fit. Don't you have to attend to something today?"  
"Yup, today is the next round of this tournoi. But I still have time till afternoon."  
"A-afternoon? You missed lunchtime while you were sleeping." Jean Bart jumped up and looked at the clock. "Merdé! Only half an hour left until I have to be there." Slightly in panic she ran out of her room leaving Dunkerque behind.  
"Should I have woken you up earlier?" Jean Bart was already too far away to hear this, but that was already enough of an answer to her anyways. So Dunkerque followed her down the hallway back to the kitchen, where Le Mars and Gascogne were waiting for her return.  
"Reporting: 281 attempts to steal the guarded objects were repelled."  
"Good job, Gascogne. Now that we arrived you can continue doing, what you want."  
"An expression of thanks was detected. Request: A reward in form of macarons is desired."  
"Sure, sit down and eat some with us." So everyone sat down eating in relish Dunkerque's sweet dishes.  
"I guess, none of you is going to come with me, am I right?"  
"Fighting isn't all that interesting for me. I just can't understand, why you are fighting to get Commander's attention, while the way through his stomach is by far the easier and less painful way."  
"Through his stomach? Like with a sword?" Le Mars wasn't paying that much attention to the conversation and only got the last part.  
"N-nooo?! With my sweets!"  
"Analyzing necessity of observing fights between ships… Result: Necessity approved."  
"So…" Jean Bart looked at Gascogne confused. "You're accompanying me?"  
"Company approved if it is allowed."  
"If you want to be there in time, shouldn't you hurry up a little more, Jean?"  
"Mmh… breakfast done, bathroom done. I still have some minutes." Jean Bart said slightly annoyed.  
"I admire, how you only need ten seconds to ready yourself up in the bathroom instead of hours like everyone else here." Dunkerque answered with a smile, but Jean Bart wasn't sure if she should take that as a compliment.

* * *

A little later Jean Bart and Gascogne were on the way to the beach in complete silence. Conducting a conversation with Gascogne isn't easy after all.  
"Sister, I know my rivals' weak points… your worries are unfounded…" Jean Bart suddenly noticed Kaga's voice nearby. She saw the white fox together with her sister slowly walking into the same direction while speaking about the event.  
_"This is a good opportunity to learn about Kaga's weaknesses. And I'm kinda curious, what they know about the others that I don't know. Or, more importantly, what do they think of me? But they'd probably stop talking if they saw me. What should I do now?"_ Jean Bart saw a tree in her nearer surroundings she instinctively hid behind. Though Gascogne did not understood at all, why she was doing that right now. She stopped in sight of the foxes and looked directly towards the tree Jean Bart was standing behind.  
"Gas," she whispered. "Hide from the foxes."  
A moment of silence before Gascogne answered in her typical way "Purpose of input suggestion not detected."  
Jean Bart heard the voices of the foxes coming closer and closer. "Sister… will you really go through any rival's information you have?!"  
"Sure, I will. I want my sister to be best informed about anything."  
"Please… stop that."  
"Aww, be a little more cooperative now. So do you know the weakness of Jean-" Akagi stopped talking as they noticed Gascogne standing motionless right in front of them looking at a tree. With suspicious eyes the foxes slowly walked past her.  
_"Dammit, Gas. You're ruining this for me."  
_The foxes didn't say a word while going past that weirdly acting girl. Gascogne didn't feel the need to say anything about this situation anyways. After the foxes weren't in sight anymore, Jean Bart came out of her hiding spot.  
"Reason for strange acting not detected." Jean Bart didn't even want to answer to this.  
_"Wasted opportunity..."  
_The rest of the way they kept silent again. Arriving at the beach, she saw all the other contestants already waiting in front of a huge crowd of excited shipgirls. She rushed to them as Belfast's voice started to resound through all the loudspeakers.  
"Welcome everyone, who made it to the second round of our one-on-one exercise tournament. Our fighters are ready. Javelin, Prinz Eugen, Kaga, Jean Bart, San Diego, Warspite, Admiral Graf Spee and Enterprise. But before we get started, I have to announce today's matches first. The pairings were, of course, randomly chosen, so nobody has any advantages or disadvantages caused by us, the secretaries. Our first contestant will be… Warspite! Definitely a strong rival regardless of who will be the opponent. And the battleship of the Royal Navy is going to fight against… Enterprise, the great aircraft carrier of the Eagle Union. Two strong fighters, an interesting pairing nonetheless right at the start. The first fighter of our next match is our legendary battleship of the Vichya Dominion. Jean Bart, quite a 'one-hit wonder' in the first round." An awkwardly silent break. "Ahem… Her enemy isn't any less legendary. It is the Iron Blood's heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen…"  
_"Eugen, huh?"_ Jean Bart glanced over to her upcoming rival. Eugen did not show any reaction, when her name was called out. She didn't even checked on her once. _"She's definitely the challenging type I've trained for. This won't be easy, but I didn't expect this fight to become easy in the first place."  
_"...The third fight is going to be fought between Kaga, the aircraft carrier of the Sakura Empire, and the other heavy cruiser of Iron Blood, that was able to win its first round, Admiral Graf Spee. Last but not least we have a very special fight for you. Light cruiser San Diego of the Eagle Union and Royal Navy's destroyer Javelin are going to face each other in the last fight of the day. Let's have some exciting action! First the fighters will get 30 minutes to prepare themselves for the upcoming fights. So if you haven't visited Ping Hai and Ning Hai's ramen stand yet, now is a good time to do so. Thanks for listening. The preparation time starts now!"

* * *

Jean Bart, Javelin, everyone was warming up, inspected their gear, talked to their sisters or friends.  
"I knew it wouldn't get easier…"  
"You still can do it, Javelin. You don't use plains… So Sandy can't use her best weapon…"  
"Right, Laffey. She's known for her incredible talent to destroy any plane that comes too close to her. B-but still, she has a tremendously high reputation. The Commander uses her in any serious battle. Even when he decided to give me a chance, she was there as a back-up. She is extremely experienced. I'm sure she knows enough tricks to outflank me easily."  
"Her firepower is average, just like everything else except her anti-air."  
"E-eugen?"  
"What? Is it odd to help you?"  
"N-no, but… shouldn't you concentrate on your fight rather than focus on my problems?"  
"As if I'd need to worry about a fight against someone like Jean Bart… Anyways, your specialty is evading enemy shells, something that comes in handy against almost everyone else. Besides her attacks ain't that impactful. Even if you take some hits, it won't be that much of a problem. So I'd assume you're having an advantage over her. Or in other words, it will be a shame if you don't win."  
"Eeeh?! Y-you think so?" Javelin was surprised, but Eugen started laughing.  
"Just kidding…" Eugen left Javelin without any more words said.  
"W-w-wait! Which part?" Eugen didn't bother to turn around, leaving her behind more than confused.  
"Was that a joke… or was she being serious, I wonder."  
"Not sure… my researches didn't go that far…" While Javelin and Laffey were confused, Eugen made her way to Spee, who just watched everyone, especially Kaga, preparing for battle.  
"Aww, Spee, you're looking so serious." Eugen gave her a headpat.  
"Ngh… Eugen, could you not ruffle up my hair like that, please…"  
"Hmm? What's the matter? Are you actually afraid of Kaga?"  
"A-afraid? I'm not sure, what you mean. Even if the odds are low, I won't flinch back and will always fight back till the end."  
Eugen smiled back at Spee. "That is the spirit of an Iron Blood ship." Spee just gave her a look of apathy.

To Warspite's delight even Her Majesty made it to the tournament to give her a special motivation speech.  
"You better bring home a victory today."  
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will fight to the utmost to win this match for the benefit of the Royal Navy. Look forward to my performance."  
_"I would love to say that Enterprise is a hard contestant and that Her Majesty shouldn't expect me to win this one-handed. But contradicting with her would be risky. Doing so in front of Her Majesty is nothing but an inacceptable behaviour."  
_Queen Elizabeth smiled and continued. "Fine, fine. The maids prepared tea and cake to celebrate your win afterwards."  
"I'll make sure to come back as soon as possible."  
Suddenly Yukikaze's voice was heard through the loudspeakers. "Time's uuup!"  
"Yukikaze! Please be a little more serious about that…"  
"Aww… Z2 is such a killjoy…"  
"Friends, relatives," Belfast continued. "Please go back to spectators area. Our first match will be Warspite versus Enterprise. The fighters may now travel to the battlegrounds."  
"Is something bothering you, Your Majesty?" Warspite saw Queen Elizabeth's worried expression, before she wanted to turn around and leave the beach.  
"N-no! J-just go already! Or do I have to kick you over there?"  
Warspite smiled back. She totally understood the meaning behind these words. "I won't disappoint Your Majesty."

* * *

Having said that, she left the beach and followed Enterprise to their destination.  
"Let's have a fair fight." Warspite tried to do a bit small talk, but anything to get her attention repelled with no further effect.  
"Are you reeeaaadyyy?"  
"Yukikaze, please…"  
"Goooo!" Yukikaze fired a shell, which fell into the water between them. With that Warspite and Enterprise started to attack each other with everything they had. As Warspite started firing, Enterprise drew her bow and released her arrow. On its way to Warspite the arrow turned into a huge shell heading directly for a confrontation with her. In the split of a second Warspite brandished her sword and cut through the plane, creating a huge fireball in front of the battleship, bigger than she expected.  
_"What was that?!"_ Warspite was dazzled by the explosion. She wasn't able to see, what was coming towards her. Enterprise's Dauntless bomber were already in the air. As Warspite's eyesight came back, the planes were about to drop their load over her. She tried to avoid most of the bombs, but she still got hit.  
_"Not good… Keep fighting!"_

"Uh, that was an impressive impact." Hood was watching the match together with Illustrious. Queen Elizabeth already left before the fight even started.  
"I hope, she didn't get hurt too much."  
"Look! She is still standing." When the smoke and spray cleared, they saw how Warspite stood up bravely. "Impressive, even for a warrior."

_"I won't admit defeat so easily. Not yet! Even though I was in the center of the explosions, I am still standing! I have the chance to win this!"_  
"You really are resistant, Warspite." Even Enterprise paid her a compliment.  
"I had harder bombings before. Ask the foxes." The Warspite gave her a smile as she restarted the fire on her. Shells fired by Warspite's auxiliary guns filled the air. Now Enterprise was the one in danger. She managed to evade a few shells. The ones who hit Enterprise couldn't damage her crucial, until Warspite had to take a break from firing, since she had to reload them. Enterprise used this break to take the initiative as she started another airstrike.  
_"Another strike?! That fast?! Prepare for a critical moment!" _Warspite tried to shoot down as many planes as possible. Unsuccessfully. A lot of them slipped through her anti-air fire. Bomb after bomb flew down in her direction. Once again Warspite was enveloped by a spout of water. The masses of watching girls fell silent, amazed by the explosions.

"It's… over?" Enterprise was still skeptical. She couldn't be sure, she had won, until she saw Warspite had admitted the defeat.  
"So that is how intense a battlefield can get." A voice resounded from the non-transparent cloud of smoke and water spray.  
"Warspite?!" Even Enterprise could hide away her amazement, when she heard her voice. As the crowd was able to see Warspite between the smoke, they started to cheer for her.  
_"Maybe this is a turning point."  
_Suddenly she approached Enterprise very fast and started to take a big swing with her sword.  
"What the heck?" Surprised about the way, how Warspite was trying to attack, Enterprise quickly raised her bow to fend off the blow. Although she was able to clear this first attack, she had to step back a little and was incapable of fighting back. The battleship used her advantage and fired with everything she got.  
_"Dammit. What's gotten into her all of the sudden. It's getting very uncomfortable here…"  
_Warspite was closing in for her final blow. She knew she had to win this match very soon after she had taken much damage from the bombings and the length of the fight had drained her.  
"Hurt warriors fight back twice as hard. I've promised to win." Once again Warspite fired at Enterprise. A moment later she released another barrage towards her, followed by yet another barrage.  
"What the?!" These impactful blows were too much for Enterprise. She was able to block the first wave of shells. But the next hit her critically and against the last barrage she was totally helpless.

"Aaaand the winner is Warspite!"  
Enterprise beaten up badly was crouching at the water surface, until Warspite came to help her up, although Warspite herself was hardly able to stand up straight without leaning on her sword.  
"You did well. My congratulations, Warspite."  
"Thanks. You didn't go easy on me as well."  
"Well, yeah. I didn't want you to think I'd be kind to you due to your age."  
"I-... I'm not that old…" Warspite didn't get Enterprise was joking.  
"Ah, sorry. My bad."  
"I wasn't expecting less of you anyways." Warspite and Enterprise finally reached the coast.

* * *

"What a great start of today's session, wasn't it?" Belfast started to speak, particularly happy that Warspite achieved a result which wouldn't send Her Majesty into a rage. "This really took a while, so we better get started with the next match fast. Jean Bart and Prinz Eugen are the protagonists of this upcoming fight."  
Short while later the battleship and the heavy cruiser were standing in their positions waiting for the starting signal.  
"How do you want it? A quick defeat? Or shall I play a little with you before I show you Iron Blood's power? Hmm… I think, I've made a decision." Eugen laughed. An aura of fire and destruction surrounded her.  
"That girl… who does she think she is?!"

Belfast gave the starting signal firing a shell into the ocean between them.  
"Playtime is over!" Jean Bart immediately started shooting big shells towards her enemy. Eugen couldn't escape the huge salvo that was about to crush into her. The impact was huge. Spray covered the area, so nobody saw what happened to Prinz Eugen.  
"Nothing but empty words. I'm not surprised…" Jean Bart was totally sure that she had finished Eugen off just now.  
"Hmm? You think this was enough? Just hitting me once and that's it?"  
"She survived it?! What is that girl made of?"  
"You should know, it takes more than just these funny, little shells to defeat me." Jean Bart noticed something moving towards her underneath the water surface.  
_"Crap, she launched torpedoes! But I somehow have the feeling that something is off here."_ She tried to evade those torpedoes. That itself was pretty difficult for a battleship, but they were also following her. Several torpedoes hit Jean Bart, but the damage was bearable. Then suddenly she noticed other objects approaching her fast, one from the left and one from the right.  
_"This can't be new torpedoes. What are these? Sharks?"_ Before she could do anything to defend herself, steel jaws were jumping out of the water from both sides.  
"You didn't expect those, hmm? My rigging deserves some playtime too." Both of them were holding on to Jean Bart's main guns and were keeping her from pointing them at Eugen who was slowly approaching her grinning smugly that her plan worked pretty well.  
"Seems like your main guns are out of action."  
_"My auxiliary guns!"_ Jean Bart used them to fire all she could, but Prinz Eugen had already activated her skill and so most of Jean Bart's shells ended up in her rotating shields. At first the Vichya battleship was standing nervously on her fore trying to think about a way to get out of this situation, but then she sighed and sat down annoyed.  
"Hmm? Are we done playing now? I think I should make an end to this."  
"Tch. Fine, but can we just stop here? Having to rest days in an infirmary is a pain in the ass."  
Eugen laughed and released Jean Bart from her rigging. "I like your personality. It reminds me of myself somehow. Though I'm not all that grumpy all the time. Fine, I'll accept your request." She turned her back to her enemy and made some steps towards the beach.  
_"She bought it?"_ Jean Bart's turrets moved, so the guns pointed at the unsuspecting cruiser. _"How foolish-"_  
"No." Eugen interrupted her thoughts. Though she didn't bother to turn around to look at Jean Bart. "I'm not the fool here."  
"Wh-what do you mean?!" _"Can she read my thoughts?!"_  
"Before you try to be cheeky and attack me from behind, you should check your guns first. I'm just giving you this little tip, since I kinda like you."  
Jean Bart followed her advice and took a look at her turrets. _"What the hell?! My guns! They're utterly deformed. If I use them one more time, they can destroy my guns, maybe even my whole rigging. Her beasts must have done this. So she already saw through me in the moment I asked her to stop."_ "Damn you."  
"Fun time playing with you. We can repeat this at any time if you like to."  
"The winner is Prinz Eugen!"  
_"Words I never wanted to hear. All the workouts, the exercises, the training, all the time I wasted for this. Or was it still not enough?"_

* * *

While Jean Bart was returning at the beach still brooding and analyzing in her thoughts, what she might have done wrong, was Spee already awaiting Prinz Eugen.  
"You managed to win. I'm glad." Spee smiled, a rare moment she actually showed her happiness. "This match wasn't as one-sided as it looked like from here. Eugen, the fight left quite some impressive scratches on your hull."  
"Ugh… I need a drink." As she finished the sentence, Eugen collapsed in front of Spee.  
"Eugen!" Spee managed to catch her unconscious body while falling with her huge claw.


	6. Quater Finals - Part 2

"Ngh…"  
_"What is this? My head… Have I drunk too much again?"  
_"...hear me... Eugen... Can you hear me?" Not knowing where she was Prinz Eugen slowly became conscious. The first thing she noticed was the Commander who was leaning over her, trying to wake her up.  
"I wasn't expecting this view, but sure I don't mind it at all." She said with a smile. "Where exactly am I at the moment?"  
"Still at the beach on the stands where I am sitting."  
"Uhm, Commander-sama…" Akagi suddenly appeared behind them smiling nervously. It was obvious that she forced herself to smile. "That you're so caring about everyone, is nice and all, but you can stop this now."  
"Hmm? Akagi… could it be that you're jealous?"  
"See, Commander-sama. She's already well enough to make fun of people. Giving her any more attention is needless."  
"Ah, Commander! I feel like I'm about to faint!" Eugen suddenly spread out her arms as she fell around him smirking at the Sakura carrier, who now lost her smile completely.  
"Eug-"  
"Commander, could you stay by my side for a while?"  
"Of course if you need it." The Commander looked at the slack cruiser worrying about her well-being.  
"Commander-sama! She's just toying with you!" Akagi shouted desperately.  
"Commander…" Eugen said in a light voice. "I need you right now."  
"Akagi! You see she clearly is exhausted."  
"B-but Com-"  
"No buts!" Annoyed about this situation Akagi turned around.  
"I have to cheer up my sister now! See you, Commander-sama…"  
"Bye bye." With a bright smile on her face Eugen watched her leaving. "Ah, finally she's gone." She freed herself from the Commander, who caught her when she pretended to faint.  
"Erm… Eugen, you're alright?!"  
"Of course. I just wanted to get rid of that obsessive fox. It's hard to get some time with only you, since she is satelliting you all the time. I thought it would be for the better if she wasn't around."  
"S-so she was right? You were just toying with me after all?"  
"You did play along very well. Vielen Dank. Anyways, now that we two have some alone time, we could…" She gave him the most seductive glance. "...watch Spee beating up Kaga!"  
"You! You did it again!"  
"You're just hooked up far too easy. But that's something I really like about you, maybe even your best part."  
"That would be quite saddening..."  
"Commander, were you impressed by my win before?"  
"W-where does this come from all of the sudden?" He wasn't sure if this was another one of Eugen's tricks to lure him. "I mean, it's not like I am unimpressed. You defeated a battleship. Especially Jean Bart isn't someone you'd take out lightly."  
"Not a big deal for an Iron Blood cruiser like me."  
"Though her hits affected you a lot. She almost had it. Only your good defense and a little trick saved you there."  
Belfast began speaking and interrupted their talk. "After this break we shall now continue with our next battle. So let's have a round of applause for Kaga and Admiral Graf Spee, while they make their way to the fighting grounds."  
"Ah, Commander, look at Spee now. She's another reason why you should rely on us Iron Blood cruiser more often."  
"We'll see…"

* * *

A shell flew through the air dropping down into the water between Spee and Kaga. As the battle started, Spee went into the offense. Kaga's planes had to ready up first, so there was nothing to do for her, but to evade as much incoming shells as possible. But Spee pressed hard against the Sakura girl and put her in a troubling position. Suddenly a shot cracked Kaga's runway, almost breaking it in two. It seemed to be almost impossible for her planes to start off, which pretty much would be Spee's win.  
"Hmm?" Eugen glanced at the sky, as she noticed something unusual. "Are these Kaga's?" A squadron of torpedo and dive bombers suddenly appeared above the beach coming from the port's direction. No doubt, they were the same kind of planes that Kaga had equipped. Though it still seemed strange to Eugen. "When did she launch them? Or did... Ah, Commander, I will leave you for now."  
"Wait, don't you need at least a little bit of rest?"  
"Nah, I am completely fine." Without wasting further time she left him to go investigating on her own.  
Spee then noticed the group of bombers approaching her as well. _"Where do they come from?! I thought I-"_ First bombs began to rain down on her. Even Kaga couldn't refrain from looking up at the planes with a look, that could be described as surprised. But that didn't distract her for too long. After a short glimpse Kaga concentrated on launching her first wave of aircraft at Spee, who still had to deal with those other bombers. Being under heavy bombardment, she was able to shoot down a few of her enemies, while still too many others were buzzing around her like bloodthirsty mosquitoes. At no point Spee didn't have to evade yet another bomb. Then suddenly she was hit by something underwater. A torpedo exploded. She hadn't noticed that some of them had launched torpedoes while she tried to avoid the falling bombs. The torpedo destroyed a lot of necessary equipment. Her rudder wasn't functioning anymore. And so she was uncontrollably flossing through the water, while bombs were still crushing into the waters around her. Another torpedo hit her. This time the damage was minor compared to the damage already dealt.  
_"What am I doing here all the time? This does not look good. Whenever I shoot down a plane, it feels like another one is just taking its place. Whenever I manage to evade a bomb, another one drops down onto me. They're to many. This is not the kind of battle I am made for. Kaga is completely out of my league. Even though I basically dominated the start, her behaviour didn't change at all. She simply didn't care about the damage I did to her and kept a totally straight face. There is still a lot I can learn from Kaga. So, is it okay to lose against Kaga? Even though the chances are low, even though my situation is miserable, even though despair is growing inside me, there must be a way to turn the table. The Commander is watching me, Eugen and sister too, everyone that's dear to me is sitting over there cheering me on, I know it. I never could disappoint them. If so, I wouldn't forgive myself."  
_"I have to hold out just a little longer… in the name of all that is dear to me!" She cried out. Though having developed a heavy list, Spee had changed completely. Still she wasn't able to move properly, but her weapons were working perfectly fine. She turned her guns on Kaga and started firing. The white fox was utterly surprised by the sudden resistance. Spee pelted the carrier with shells and damaged Kaga badly.  
"You dare to hit my dearest sister? This little bug needs to get squished already…"  
Like bees protecting their queen from intruders the planes surrounding Spee became more aggressive by every second. Then suddenly one freed itself from the swarm and directly aimed for the cruiser.  
"Don't tell me-" Before it could crash into Spee, she slapped the plane from the sky with her huge metal glove, resulting in a big explosion that even was strong enough to rip off some parts of her special hand. "Is she sacrificing them?!"  
"Nee-sama…" Kaga quietly said, gazing annoyed at the beach. "This is my battle…" Spee's list was worsening, just like her whole situation was. Another plane crashed into her, heavily damaging her guns. Kaga kept quiet in anger and turned towards the direction, where those strange plane were coming from. "Nee-sama, stop it already…"  
"Lesson learned, unworthy piece of metal?" Most of the bombers that were surrounding the crippled Iron Blood cruiser started leaving the battlefield in all directions. The others came back to Kaga.  
"Kaga is the winner in this battle."  
_"I lost?! I gave it my everything, but still… it wasn't enough. My sister, my Commander, I disappointed them all."_

Marked by the hard fight Spee reached the coast, where Deutschland was waiting for her. Spee's sister for once looked extremely worried eagerly waiting for her to return.  
"Spee, are y-" Before Deutschland could end her sentence, her sister fell to her knees, not because she was exhausted or too damaged, but she had the urge to apologise.  
"I-I'm sorry… I disappointed you."  
"Wh-... Spee! What are you talking about?!"  
"You wanted me to win this, but I couldn't live up to your expectations."  
"My expectations? Yeah, sure. This isn't what I was hoping for. But sometimes you have to admit defeat and it's nothing to worry about!" Deutschland jumped to her sister and gave her a hug full of love. Spee looked up surprised. It was unlikely for Deutschland to say something like this and even more unlikely to hug her in public. But she saw Spee needed these words and this act and they didn't miss their impact at all.  
"I understand…"  
"Next time you beat your enemies and turn them into a pile of trash. You can nothing but learn from this fight and in the next battle you maybe will do something different."  
"I will!" Feeling a little bit better she stood up. She still was damaged. But at least her eyes were shining from happiness.

At a slope on a hill with an excellent view on the scenery Akagi was watching everything alone. At least she thought she was alone.  
"Hmm? So this is where those mysterious planes came from." A voice she knew too well coming from behind shocked Akagi. Double-quick she turned around where she saw Prinz Eugen watching her with a delighted look on her face.  
"You troublesome girl." The fox replied. "Aren't you busy pestering the Commander with your seductive tricks? You shouldn't have come here." Suddenly Akagi charged at Eugen while taking a swing. But instead of punching her in the face, like Akagi intended to do, her fist hit nothing but air. Eugen saw her punch coming and stepped aside just in time. Akagi couldn't maintain her balance due to this unexpected miss. Eugen instead grabbed her arm and pressed her down. She pinned the carrier at the ground in no time. Akagi wasn't left any chance to escape while she was lying with her back on the ground. With a grin Eugen was holding her arms tightly while she was leaning over Akagi's defenceless body.  
"Oh? You might have underestimated the strength of a heavy cruiser just now, haven't you?" She stated joyfully as she was sitting on top of her. "You should have come up with a better plan. That way I just had to show you your place."  
"You won't get away with that!" Akagi was getting desperate. Any try to free herself was foiled. She was afraid that Eugen would reveal to the Commander that she was actively supporting Kaga with bombers during the fight.  
"You still think you're in the position to threaten me?" Her grip tightened even more as Eugen got closer Akagi's face. "You're so cute, Akagi… Ah, your face turned all red. I guess, you're not that loyal to the Commander after all, hmm?"  
"You-" The anger in Akagi's voice slowly vanished. It now sounded fearful. "You are going to tell him, right?"  
Eugen smiled back right into her face. "Wouldn't it be a bit boring if I just went straight to the Commander and told him about you? Whether I do it or not, you can decide it for yourself." Eugen loosened her grip and stood up, leaving the perplexed fox on the ground.  
"Well… it is boring over here, so I give you some privacy for now." No further interaction. The Iron Blood girl turned around and left the place.  
_"What was that just now? She was controlling me, she was possessing me…"_ Akagi suddenly started grinning. "So that was how Commander-sama feels! Such thrilling, exciting feeling! More! I need more! I need to see him right now!" At first the fox was kneeling on the ground overly excited, but it didn't take long until she jumped up and rushed down to the beach.  
"Commander, I'm back!" Eugen embraced the Commander from the back as she spoke in an unnatural high pitched voice. "Did you miss me?"  
"Ah! Eugen… what are you doing?!" He was surprised by Eugen's abnormal behaviour.  
"Hmm? You're okay with that when a destroyer is doing this, so I gave it a try. Maybe one day you will love me like you love those children."  
"D-don't say that ever again! People might get a wrong idea… Where did you even go off to? You missed the end of the match."  
"I saw more than enough." She pointed at the hill.  
"I see..." The Commander didn't actually understand, what she meant by that, but he didn't want to ask neither. "I guess you're not quite satisfied with its end, are you?"  
"Hmm… there were some game changing variables I didn't take into consideration."  
"That's what losers always say in the end!"  
"Commander, you really are a simpleton sometimes." Eugen stated calmly with a smile.

* * *

The last battle of the day. San Diego and Javelin were ready to start.  
_"My heart is racing. Though I am confident in myself. I know Laffey and Eugen are, too. Those words she gave me before. Knowing they truly support me, is helping me. Their tips, their critics. I never thought I'd be able to oppose someone like Sandy, one of Commander's most precious ships. I couldn't thank them enough for putting faith in me. That is why I'm gonna give it back to them. I'm gonna win this just for them."  
_The starting shot was fired.  
"Yaaaay! Let's goooo!" Sandy shouted as she started attacking Javelin with all her guns.  
_"How is she always so overly hyped throughout battles?!"_ The Royal Navy destroyer had no problems evading the first wave of incoming shells. She herself started firing her main gun.  
"Full power, advance!" She launched a fan of torpedoes. Sandy saw them coming and tried to get out of their way, but it was impossible to escape Javelin's tightly spread torpedoes. She tried it anyways, but the moment she avoided one, she ran right into another torpedo which hit Sandy with a loud explosion.  
"You're actually fighting me, but it needs more to beat me! Watch my secret special power!" Sandy shouted in her usual self-confident way. "Super Idol Sparkling Battle Star Power, goooo!"  
"Eh?! Does it make your attack stronger if you shout its name?"  
"Well, duh!" It was like San Diego and Javelin were taking a break in the middle of their fight. "Reno and Long Island told me about it. All the superheroes are shouting the name of their special attack, aaand they always win!"  
"Is that so?" _"Is she taking those stories for real?"  
_"Of course it does! I've never lost a battle, when I used this. Ah! I said too much about my secret tactic. Let's continue!"  
_"Was she even trying to hide this 'secret' of hers?"  
_Finally Sandy fired her sparkly barrage. The stars were shot at Javelin with such a high velocity, the destroyer wasn't able to evade them. The hitting stars left some scratches and a few holes in Javelin's gear, but nothing important was actually damaged.  
_"So Eugen wasn't just trying to comfort. She was right about San Diego's firepower. But I shouldn't let my guard down. This barrage just now wasn't weak, another one of this hitting me at a crucial spot could be the end."  
_The two ship girls kept firing at each other, but nobody could severely damage the other one.  
_"No progress. I have to think of something. The longer this battle continues, the more likely she fires her next barrage."_ Javelin started moving. Getting faster she tried to circulate around Sandy.  
"Ah, stoooop! I can't hit you like that!" Sandy impatiently launched some torpedoes, but all of them completely missed their target. Javelin smiled, happy that her plan seemed to be a success.  
_"There it is!"_ Javelin noticed Sandy's guns still hadn't focused on her. _"I'm in a blind spot. The moment I was waiting for."_  
Suddenly Javelin rushed towards her opponent and released a load of torpedoes.  
"I got you!" Happy that her plan worked out well, she stopped watching her torpedoes running into Sandy, but at that moment she didn't see Sandy's guns were already pointing at the destroyer. When she noticed, many shells were already raining down at Javelin. Her gear, especially the guns got damaged. But her plan indeed was a success. A big explosion resounded in the area.  
"I give up! I give up! No more! I can't take no more!"  
_"Huh? I-I won?"  
_"The winner is Javelin. Congratulations." Z2's voice reassured her.  
"Aww, that sucks… but if this was a song contest, I'd totally win!"  
"Probably…" _"She's taking this defeat very lightly."_

Both headed back to the coast. Javelin ran towards Laffey and embraced her. The white-haired girl had nothing in response.  
"I did it! I did it!" Javelin shouted a she was shaking Laffey wildly. "I've won against Sandy!"  
"Javelin is good after all. Commander should be proud of you." Laffey replied.  
"He should be! He'd be a fool if he hasn't noticed my talent yet." Javelin stated with an immodest grin on her face.  
"Hmm? That's a sudden change of behavior." Prinz Eugen joined the two destroyers.  
"Ehehe, yes… this is also thanks to you two. I wouldn't stand here so confidently if you didn't help me out."  
"I didn't expect such a compliment, but I'll take it anyways."  
"I-if you have a favor to ask, Eugen, I'd happily help you out, too!"  
"Hmm, if so…"

* * *

"Nee-sama, what did you do during my fight?!" Kaga met her sister on the way back home to the Sakura Empire dorms right after her scratches were tended and her damaged gear got repaired. Akagi was sitting at a table with a cup of green tea in her hand and another cup on the opposite of the table already waiting for Kaga. The white fox sat down at the table.  
"Ah, you noticed my little help." Akagi said smiling at her angered sister.  
"So it was you after all."  
"Don't give me that look, Kaga. Seeing that brat attacking you, I simply could not stand there and do nothing… That demon dared to hurt my dearest sister. Everyone that does so deserves to get lectured."  
"I appreciate your worries, but I am strong enough to fight my own battles."  
"Of course you are… I just wanted to increase the speed a little."  
"Next time you'll interfere with my fight, I'll make you regret it." Without giving Akagi the chance to justify her actions Kaga stood up and left her sister alone.  
"What a shame… she haven't even finished her tea."


	7. Night Patrol

"Javelin… move faster…"  
"Uwaa! There's no way I can go faster!"  
Explosions and shots put an end to the peaceful silence surrounding the base. Javelin was practicing her skills again. This time not just Laffey, but also Ayanami was there to assist her. Moving back and forth Javelin did her best to find the gaps between the torpedoes Ayanami through at her.  
"Javelin… watch out…"  
"I try, Laffey-chan! There are so many! Amazing! Where do they all come from?!"  
"It's a secret." Ayanami stated calmly with a little smile flattered by Javelin's words.  
"Time out!" The pink-haired girl needed a break. All these moves exhausted her a lot. She took a deep breath. "I think that was enough for today. Thanks, Ayanami, for helping me out."  
"It was an honor."  
"Tomorrow again… Ayanami, you too?" Laffey stared at Ayanami expecting her to say yes. Of course she nodded in agreement, there wasn't much else she had planned to do anyways. As they came back from the training grounds in the shallow waters, the girls met Belfast, who was already awaiting them at the beach.  
"Nice to meet you all here jointly exercising like role models. Javelin, the Commander wants to talk to you."  
"Me? What's the matter?"  
"I don't know the details, but he has got a special task for you, he said. You can find him in his office."

"So, what is that task?" Javelin already stood in the door of Commander's office. Only a few minutes had passed before she stormed into his room.  
"A-Ah! Eh, Javelin?!" The Commander was sitting at his huge desk overly surprised that Javelin came in without any warning.  
"Commander? Is something wrong?" She noticed he was acting weird. His face was red and he was sweating a lot. The way he looked at the girl seemed forced.  
"I-I didn't… expected you that ear-!" His words got stuck in the throat. Javelin looked at him with a questioning expression trying to figure out, why he was acting that way. Suddenly something hit against the desk from underneath.  
"M-my knee!" The Commander tried to make it clear to her immediately.  
"Uh?"  
"Could you please… come back later?" He was breathing heavily concerning Javelin even more. "... like, in five minutes…"  
"But Belfast told me you had a task for me. Are you really okay, Commander?"  
All of the sudden another voice started talking from under the desk. "Just leave! We're busy here!"  
Javelin, at first absolutely clueless about the meaning of this, turned around blushing as she very precisely understood that someone was doing something under his desk and left quickly without saying anything.  
"That was unnecessary, Akagi…"  
Javelin fled into a hallway not far away from the office into an area in which the secretaries usually wandered around. _"This was Akagi's voice! Did she… did they?! And I ran into this, while they were… This is too embarrassing! I need to stop thinking about this or else it'll drive me crazy."  
_"Javelin?"  
"Eh?" She looked up. "Belfast?"  
"Are you alright? Your face is utterly pale. Have you already talked to the Commander?"  
"Yes… I was there." She started shaking. "B-but he was busy with… uhm, someone else."  
"Oh my, you seem troubled. How about a nice cup of tea to calm you down?" Javelin couldn't even answer fast enough as Belfast was already handing over a cup filled with warm mint tea that she apparently carried with her all the time. Of course Javelin had to accept this offer.  
"It helps… thank you, Belfast. You always know the right thing to do."  
"That is what a maid is supposed to do." Belfast couldn't hide that she was pleased to hear that.  
At that moment the Commander suddenly appeared behind a corner. "Javelin, there you are!"  
"Commander…"  
"About that thing just now... Let's pretend that never happened, okay?"  
"I second that." Javelin instantly agreed.  
Belfast noticed a tension between them. "I better leave you two alone for now."  
"Now about your task. I wanted to assign you to a commission tonight. You seemed so pumped up lately and Belfast brought up your name, when we were discussing who should be assinged. So I decided to give you something to use this energy on."  
"A Commission?"  
"It's the Coastal Defense Patrol. You'll keep an eye on the waters surrounding us. It's a tough and long mission in the darkness of the night, so you'll get some experienced staff aside. Some of the girls from the Sakura Empire are famous for their nocturnality. But I'll tell you more about it later at the port. You better go now rest for as long as you can."  
"This sounds so exciting! My first night duty! I won't disappoint!" Javelin rushed away instantly and headed to her dorm. She felt the excitement rushing through her body as much as the exhaustion from practicing her skills with Laffey and Ayanami. Javelin fell in her bed and before she even knew her eyes closed as day turned into evening.

* * *

"Javelin?"  
"... wha-" Javelin jumped up from her bed. "Juno! Don't scare me like that! I didn't hear you coming in."  
"I-I'm sorry. You might not noticed it because you were asleep. It's kind of silly, but I was worrying about you. You've never slept this early unless you had a cold."  
"I've slept? Wait… what time is it?"  
"Eh… almost 10pm I think."  
"Perfect timing!" Javelin started running as if she had regained all of her energy.  
"Perfect timing? For what?" But Javelin had already left the dorm leaving an astonished Juno behind.

"Wait for meee!" Javelin stormed towards the group that was surrounding the Commander at the port drawing the attention of the whole gathered fleet to her. Jintsuu, Helena, Akatsuki, Yuudachi, U-557 and the Commander were staring at her.  
"Uh… hello everyone… Sorry for being late."  
"Great!" The Commander started speaking. "See ya in five hours. Good luck, have fun!"  
"W-wait! Is that everything?" The Commander was already about to go back to his office as Javelin's words forced him to turn around again.  
"Okay… you're right, I should give you some more information. So, if you sight enemies or witness something else possibly dangerous, send a message to the port. A reinforcement fleet is stationed here on standby if you need some help. That's all you need to know! Please no further question. If I'm too late, Akagi will get kinda mad at me." Everyone sensed the fear in his voice. Having said that he ran away.  
Jintsuu took Commander's place and started speaking like a flagship. "I propose we split up and surround the island in two groups until we meet us on the other side. Helena, Akatsuki and Yuudachi go leftwards. U-557 and Javelin follow me. You agree?"  
"Is it really okay to split our forces?" U-557 interjected. "With my bad luck I'm sure we will run into a siren."  
"Grr… so pessimistic. I'm glad, I'm not grouping up with her. But we should get started already 'cuz I'm getting hungry…"  
"Eh? Yuudachi, haven't you been in the canteen up until just before you were supposed to meet up with us? How can you be hungry again?!" Akatsuki asked, but Yuudachi simply shrugged her shoulders.  
"Th-that's not the point!" Helena wanted to lead back the discussion to the original question. "There haven't been any raids by sirens lately, so I would say the risk of encountering a siren ambush is rather low. But even if we meet one, we'll have some approved night fighters on our side and even if that is not enough, we got reinforcement that is able to support us immediately."  
_"Helena sounds like a pro. The way she is thinking this through is reassuring me, she is way out of my league."_ Akatsuki and Javelin agreed with Helena and Jintsuu.  
"F-fine… But still, I'm sure something super bad will happen." U-557 obeyed the instructions anyways. Helena and Jintsuu decided to stay in contact as much as possible in case they needed support, then their ways parted.

20 minutes later…  
"Ahhh… this is so… boring." Javelin sighed.  
"Night patrol is usually like this." Jintsuu was on Javelin's left side between her and U-557. "But if I had to choose, I'd rather prefer a calm and boring night over a stormy night full of incidents, wouldn't you agree?"  
"Yeah… that is true."  
"Those memories from my earlier life made me appreciate such peaceful nights."  
"With me on your side… expect the worst…" U-557 threw in looking around as if she was already waiting for anything to happen.  
"I don't see anything strange though…" Javelin kept an eye on her surroundings as well. Nothing but the lights from the base in the far distance to her left and the millions of stars upon them in the crystal clear night sky was to be seen.  
"Helena, anything suspicious to report?"  
"Umm… nothing yet-"  
"It's so daaark! Please, Helena, let me turn on the lights." Akatsuki's voice in the background interrupted Helena.  
"Akatsuki, I already told you, during night patrol it's not allowed to turn on any lights." Then Helena continued talking to Jintsuu. "We'll keep moving on. Agreed rendezvous point will be reached in about half an hour."  
"Same here. Everything is happening according to plan. We'll talk again when we meet up."  
The patrol went on and on uneventful. Soon they should be able to see the other girls.

"Is something bothering you, Helena?" Yuudachi noticed a sudden change in Helena's behavior.  
"There is something… weird on my radar. I wonder if it's malfunctioning."  
"Like a weird signal?"  
"I-is something out there?! Can I turn on my searchlights?" Akatsuki was trembling.  
Yuudachi tried to calm her down. "But could that be Jintsuu? They are supposed to be close to us."  
"I've considered that too at first. But the signal I'm getting is coming from the sea far away from our base and from where Jintsuu is supposed to be patrolling."  
"Th-that is concerning."  
Helena looked at her radar again. "Huh?! It's approaching us! I should call Jintsuu."  
"N-not like I'm scared or anything, but... is it getting foggy?" Yuudachi realized the weather change as she was still watching out for Jintsuu or whatever was getting closer. "What's the meaning of all that?!"

"I knew it… bad luck after all…"  
"What is it this time, U-557?" Javelin gazed at the sub annoyed since the tired-looking girl kept repeating herself that this commission would end in a catastrophe. "There is a sudden breeze coming up. It's uncomfortable, I'd rather submerge now. But I have to save oxygen… unfortunate me…"  
"Now that you say it, I'm feeling it too." Javelin looked up and noticed clouds starting to cover up the sky. "The weather is changing to the worse, but still not the end of the world."  
"Strange… was this-?" Jintsuu was murmuring to herself, loud enough that Javelin couldn't miss out on it.  
"Something wrong?"  
"I thought I just saw something at the horizon, but it might as well have been the fog coming down."  
Javelin wanted to suggest Jintsuu to inform Helena, but the Eagle Union cruiser was faster. "J… tsu… ans…" White noise covered almost all of the message making it unintelligible.  
"Helena, please repeat that."  
"... und… sta… we… help!" The last word was loud and clear.  
"I'll inform the base! Everyone, full speed towards the rendezvous point! Get ready for enemy contact!"  
"What is all this?!" Javelin was confused, but for Jintsuu it wasn't the first time something like happened to her.  
"A siren attack, without a doubt." As Jintsuu's fleet rushed forward, they got deeper inside the mysterious fog. Then suddenly a light lit up in the darkness, and a familiar voice started screaming. "AKATSUKI! I told you not to do this!" But Akatsuki lightening up the surroundings, even if it was just a little bit, was still very helpful.  
"Something rushed through the beam!" Akatsuki shouted, but this enemy wasn't even trying to hide their presence.  
"Ahahahaha! Oh, hello, hello! Nice to me you all here!"  
"This voice…" Jintsuu remembered it.  
"Did I surprise you? Did I scare you?" The thick, mysterious fog was gone all of the sudden, at least inside a small circle that was now surrounded by a huge wall of fog. Then she showed herself completely illuminated by Akatsuki's searchlights.  
"It's Purifier! Everyone, prepare to fire!" Jintsuu shouted as she stepped inside the circle surprising Helena and Akatsuki that hadn't noticed her and Javelin until then. U-557 had already submerged.  
"Uh oh! More girls! But, the more the merrier, or so they say. Let's have some fun together!" Under Purifier's maniac laughter everyone started firing with everything they got. But with her huge battleship-like guns the siren was able to give some serious backfire. Soon the air was filled with shells shooting in various directions. The battlefield became more and more chaotic much to Purifier's delight, who managed to avoid any dangerous impacts. Staying in an organized formation was impossible at that point.  
"Where's the reinforcement from the port?!" Jintsuu tried desperately to call back to the base.  
"Impossible!" Helena interfered. "You can't reach them through this fog, it's impossible! I figured as much back then when you tried to talk to me. So I sent Yuudachi back to bring them here before we were forced into this battle. We can do nothing, but hope they make it in time…"  
Meanwhile Javelin was moving around Purifier as fast as her energy allowed it, trying her best to distract the siren. Every now and then she released torpedoes to stop Purifier being the offensive part in this fight. But the success was rather little. U-557, that was very soon supporting Javelin, as well couldn't stop Purifier at all. The white-haired lunatic in the middle of everything answered those explosions of torpedoeswith nothing more than a smirk. At that moment all of the five girls were sure there was nothing they could possibly do to defeat the enemy. Right then, when hope was about to die off, another essential factor entered the stage that was called the battlefield.  
"Aww, you've started without me, even though you're having so much fun out here?! Unforgivable!" Another girl's voice from outside the wall started speaking loudly and clearly, so everyone was able to hear it.  
Purifier's eyes widened in amazement since she knew who this voice belonged to. She stopped fighting immediately. And everyone else did so too, but rather because they were wondering about what was going on. "Roon?!"  
"Puricchi?" As Roon stepped into the ring, she started smiling happily and ran towards Purifier. The siren did the same.  
"I'm glad my girl finally showed up!" Purifier gave Roon a lovely hug.  
"What are they doing?!" Javelin and U-557 were astonished looking at that absurd scene.  
"No clue, even as an Iron Blood member I wouldn't have guessed they knew each other that well…"  
"So… are they going to team up?!"  
"With my bad luck… not impossible."  
On the other side of the battlefield Helena and Jintsuu watched them not less surprised.  
"Is Roon the reinforcement?" Helena wondered.  
"Is it just Roon?!" Jintsuu added.  
"I don't know what the Commander thought when he decided that." Yuudachi appeared next to the two blue-haired girls. "The fog had already reached the coast when I entered the room where the girls on duty were supposed to wait. But when I got inside, only Roon was sitting there."  
"Maybe she scared the others off…"  
Roon was still hugging the sirens tightly. But a sudden cracking sound abruptly ended the peaceful silence. Roon's happy, satisfied look changed instantly to the most terrifying face anyone there had ever seen. Her eyes wide opened, but her pupils dramatically shrunk she was pressing the siren's body against her own. "You know… those times, when we were all buddy-buddy... they are over now." Roon calmly stated as her conscious gear took a bite of Purifier's gear tearing a whole turret apart.  
"Oh… how interesting. But I suddenly don't feel like being here anymore." The losing siren was able to free herself from Roon's grip, more like Roon allowed her to flee. Purifier left in no time and the fog vanished.  
"Y-you let her go just like that?" Javelin looked at Roon.  
"I'm fine with that." She was back to her friendly self.

* * *

Everyone headed back towards the port.  
"I'm still wondering, how does she know Purifier so well…"  
"Do you really want to know that, Akatsuki?" Jintsuu asked. Roon was too far in front of the rest to hear this conversation.  
"I'm not sure…" The self-claimed ninja responded.  
"Let's agree that we don't wanna know." The others uniformly nodded in agreement terrified of the answer.  
As they arrived at the base, the Commander was already awaiting them. Roon at least fulfilled her duty to let him know that there was going to be a major fight before she ran off.  
"I'm glad you're all okay!" He let out a big relieving sigh when he saw all the girls were able to walk on their own. "Looks like you got a big experience boost. Technically your patrol duty is still ongoing, but I can see that such unexpected complications are quite exhausting. So I was able to form another group that'll go out there for the remaining time."  
"I tried to hide my misfortune. I'm sorry, I might have failed…"  
"'Hide'? You almost told us that every time you opened your mouth. Yes, you failed indeed." Javelin said slightly annoyed.  
"It's fine. Your gear will be inspected tomorrow morning. You're free to rest now."  
The day was already dawning when Javelin fell in her bed. She really needed some rest, but she knew as well that her sisters were going to wake up very soon.

_"'You did so well today. I'm very impressed by you, Javelin!'  
Ah, Commander praising me again. Very well, please continue.  
'I see you in a different light lately.'  
I like where this is going…  
'I have prepared something very special for you… Javelin, will you-'"_

"Javelin?"  
"Yes… wanna marry you…"  
"Heh?! Javelin? It's me, Jersey!"  
"Ngh… let me sleep for once…" Javelin pressed her face into her pillow.  
"Sleep? You slept the whole day! Wake up already, sis!"  
"Wha-?!" Javelin finally woke up and looked at her red-haired sister in disbelief.  
"It's afternoon. We've just finished lunch."  
Javelin looked outside suddenly realizing Jersey was right. "I have to get up!"  
"That's what I was talking about!"  
After getting up Javelin rushed to the beach where she was supposed to meet Laffey.  
"You're late." Laffey stated neutral as the Royal Navy destroyer arrived breathing heavily from running all the way to the beach. "I'm not mad... Not. At. All." But something was telling Javelin her white-haired friend was a little mad. However she was with Ayanami again, who was just happy to see Javelin.  
"Shall we start?" The so called demon ask with a smile. So the girls followed their daily afternoon routine of exercising until they got tired.

* * *

"Akagi, what is it?"  
"Commander-sama, I'd appreciate if you could consider me for the next night patrol. It would mean the world to me if you'd allow me to participate."  
"This again… carriers are useless during night, which means you'd be useless. I don't understand why this idea even crosses your mind lately."  
"U-useless? Ufufu…" She went behind the Commander, who was sitting on his chair behind his desk as usual when he was doing work. But instead of letting him work, she threw her arms round him and as she was embracing him tightly, she pressed her chest against his back making it for him impossible to concentrate on the documents in front of him.  
"I must… resist! What do you want?!"  
"Commander-sama is saying such awful words. You must learn how to talk to a woman nicely. I think I might have to punish you…"  
_"I must somehow convince him no matter what the cost or I won't be able to meet her in time. Also, after what happened last night she maybe won't take any risk to meet me anymore. I should find her as soon as possible before it comes to further confrontations. But if I'm not able to persuade Commander-sama, I might as well find my own ways to get to Purifier."_


End file.
